SOCIAL  TEACHINGS  OF 
THE  CHRISTIAN  YEAR 


SOCIAL  TEACHINGS  OF 
THE    CHRISTIAN    YEAR 

LECTURES  DELIVERED  AT  THE 
CAMBRIDGE  CONFERENCE,  1918 

BY 
VIDA  D.  SCUDDER 

AUTHOR  OF  ''the  CHURCH  AND  THE  HOUR: 
REFLECTIONS   OF  A    SOCIALIST  CHURCHWOMAN/ '  ETC. 


NEW  YORK 
E.  P.  BUTTON  &  COMPANY 

681  FIFTH  AVENUE 


Copyright,  1921,  ^^  3 

BY  E.  P.  BUTTON  &  COMPANY 


All  Bights  Beserved 


Printed  in  tlie  United  States  of  America 


PREFACE 

People  who  are  indifferent  to  organized  re- 
ligion are  strongly  advised  by  the  author  to 
keep  away  from  this  book.  They  would  find  it 
either  annoying  or  meaningless;  at  best,  time 
spent  on  it  would  be  wasted,  and  wasted  time  is  a 
serious  matter  in  a  world  where  no  one  can  read 
what  he  should. 

The  book  is  written  for  those  who  care  deeply 
and  lovingly  for  the  Christian  Church;  more 
specifically,  for  those  in  the  habit  of  following  the 
Seasons  of  the  Church  Year  through  the  Anglican 
Prayer-Book.  More  specifically  still  it  will  make 
its  strongest  appeal  to  persons  who  are  awake  to 
the  social  gospel  on  which  so  much  salutary  stress 
is  now  laid,  and  who  want  to  find  a  harmony  be^ 
tween  the  precious  traditions  of  spiritual  expe- 
rience and  the  new  life  astir  in  our  hearts,  im- 
pelling us  to  a  strange  and  untried  world. 

Christians  of  a  liberal  turn  of  mind  and  an 
affection  for  the  Prayer-Book!  This  may  seem 
a  restricted  group,  but  it  is  larger  than  some  peo- 
ple think.  Moreover,  so  far  as  the  author  is  con- 
cerned, the  embargo  on  reading  is  off  in  the  case 

V 

4389S8 


vi  Preface 

of  any  persons  religiously  disposed.  Her  chief 
ambition  will  be  realized,  should  the  book  quicken 
social  passion  and  faith  in  devout  minds. 

Three  strong  convictions  have  inspired  the 
writing. 

The  first  is,  that  a  new  world-order  is  surely 
on  the  way.  To  aflSx  labels  would  be  premature 
and  impertinent;  but,  on  broad  lines,  what  is  hap- 
pening is  already  evident.  Democracy  is  reach- 
ing out  from  the  political  to  the  industrial  sphere ; 
the  old  class-alignments  are  doomed  to  vanish; 
large  types  of  wealth  and  large  sections  of  indus- 
try are  to  be  socialized;  and  our  children  are 
destined  to  live  in  a  civilization  as  different  from 
that  of  our  fathers  as  that  was  different  from 
mediaeval  Europe.  To  speak  more  technically, 
a  system  based  mainly  on  private  capital  and  the 
incentive  of  private  profit,  is  in  process  of  yield- 
ing to  a  system  partly  at  least  based  on  some  form 
of  socialized  capital,  and  on  incentive  of  another 
kind. 

The  second  conviction  is,  that  the  tremendous 
changes  in  prospect  can  only  be  safely  accom- 
plished if  religion  supplies  them  with  a  soul.  A 
socialist  and  atheistic  world  is  conceivable;  but 
every  Christian  knows  that  it  would  carry  its 
doom  within  it.  Such  a  world  would  be  a  travesty 
of  our  dearest  hopes.    In  the  noble  words  of  the 


Preface  vii 

Lambeth  Committee  Eeport  on  International  Ee- 
lations  (1920),  '*A  social  order  for  wMch  human- 
ity hungers  is  beyond  the  reach  of  merely  human 
expedients.  Nothing  will  establish  peace  on  the 
earth  but  a  new  creation  from  God  in  response  to 
repentance  and  prayer. '  * 

The  third  conviction  is,  that  the  ancient  faith  ^ 
of  the  Cross  is  competent  to  inspire  this  new 
creation;  that  the  principles  which  must  guide  | 
the  coming  change  are  all  implicit  in  the  cycle  ; 
of  Christian  truths ;  and  that  these  truths  urgently 
need  to  be  restudied,  for  the  light  they  throw  on 
social  thought  and  duty  in  these  difficult  times. 

The  subject  of  this  book  is,  then,  the  social  in- 
ferences to  be  drawn  from  the  Mysteries  of  the 
Christian  faith  as  expressed  in  the  sacramental 
system  of  the  Church.  But  these  Mysteries  are 
studied,  not  from  the  point  of  view  of  formal 
theology,  but  rather  from  that  of  Christian  expe- 
rience. It  is  a  book  for  very  simple  people,  not 
conversant  with  the  discussions  of  the  schools, 
but  trained  by  Mother  Church  in  love,  and  faith, 
and  will,  through  her  patient  reiteration  during 
the  changing  seasons  from  Advent  to  Trinity,  of 
what  she  holds  most  essential  and  most  dear. 

Even  while  the  book  has  been  on  the  type- 
writer, a  change  has  been  passing  over  the  spirit 
of  the  Churches.     Twenty  years  ago,  they  were 


viii  Preface 

hesitant  and  conservative ;  signs  of  sympathy  with 
the  forces,  even  then  rising,  of  industrial  democ- 
racy were  few  and  far  between.  Christian  radi- 
cals, never  lacking  at  any  moment  of  religious 
history,  were  generally  regarded  askance,  and 
were  certainly  not  in  official  favor.  All  but  in- 
sensibly, the  situation  has  altered.  Today,  cou- 
rageous expressions  of  scarcely  veiled  agreement 
with  advanced  social  views  multiply  from  month 
to  month.  Eeference  need  only  be  made  to  the 
stirring  Statement  of  four  Roman  Catholic 
Bishops;  to  the  fine  ^^ Social  Creed  of  the 
Churches,"  issued  by  the  Federal  Council  which 
represents  United  Protestantism  in  America;  to 
the  Eeport  of  the  Archbishop's  Fifth  Committee 
of  Enquiry  in  England ;  and  to  the  epoch-making 
Lambeth  Eeports.  Christianity,  in  Anglo-Saxon 
countries  at  least,  is  placing  itself  formally  and 
officially,  under  our  eyes,  on  the  side  of  the  New 
Order. 

But  Statements,  Eesolutions,  and  Eeports  are 
useless  except  as  a  beginning.  The  coming 
change  involves  a  new  Christian  ethic,  in  the  de- 
velopment of  which  every  member  of  Christ's 
Church  should  share;  and  the  formation  of  this 
ethic,  in  turn,  demands  a  re-examination  of  the 
Christian  formulae  from  the  new  point  of  view. 

This  book,  approaching  its  subject  from  a  spe- 


Preface  ix 

cial  direction,  aims  to  bring  out  a  neglected  aspect 
of  the  Mind  of  the  Church.  Needless  to  say,  it 
does  not  therefore  discount  or  discredit  the  im- 
portance of  the  personal  aspect  habitually  em- 
phasized. In  studying  the  social  implications 
of  Christian  experience  and  Christian  doctrine, 
it  seeks  to  supplement  the  older  understanding  of 
the  faith  by  drawing  new  wealth  from  an  exhaust- 
less  store. 

Adelynroad,  South  Byfield,  Mass. 

Holy  Cross  Day 

September  14,  1920. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


FAGE 
Peepacb V 


Introduction 1 

The  Social  Power  of  Christian  Doctrine 
Purpose  and  Plan  of  the  Book 
The  Church  Year  a  Witness  to  the  Social  Instinct 
The  Church  Year  a  Discipline  in  Democracy 

CsAPTER  I:     The  Season  op  Advent 13 

The  Message  of  Change 

The  Message  of  the  Kingdom 

The  Message  of  Judgment 

Judgment  as  Recurrent  Principle 

The  Christian  Attitude  toward  Catastrophe  and 
Revolution 
Judgment  as  Future  Event 

The  Millennium  the  Christian  Utopia 
The  Promised  Coming  of  the  Son  of  Man 

Chapter  II:    Christmas-tide         .        .        .        ...      43 

The  Child  and  the  Judge 
Hujnanity  as  the  Mother  of  Cod 

Social  Reform  and  the  Incarnation 
The  Manger,  the  Treasure  of  the  Humble 

Illustrations 
The  Associated  Feasts 

Chapter  III:     The  Season  op  Epiphany  .        .        •       .      65 
The  Fellowship  of  the  Mystery 
The  Holy  Youth 

The   Epiphany  of   Christian   Character:    Study  of  the 
Epistles 

Contemporary  Illustrations 
The  Epiphany  of  the  Perfect  Life :  Study  of  the  Gospels 

The  Master  as  Man  of  Action 

The  Master  as  Teacher 
The  Epiphsmy  Call  to  Adventure 


xii  Table  of  Contents 

PAOB 

Chapter  IV:    Septuagesima  to  Lent  •       .       .       .       ,87 
Septuagesima : 

The  Higher  Justice 
Sexagesima 

Christian  Heroism 

The  Importance  of  Environment 
Quinquagesima 

Love  the  Prelude  to  Penitence 

Chapter  V:     The  Season  of  Lent 101 

The  Need  for  Penitence:  Present  and  Perpetual 
Penitence  a  Social  Experience 

Scripture  Emphases 

Contemporary  Applications 
Constructive    Principles 

Social  Power  of  Personal  Self -Discipline 

The  Conflict  with  Social  Temptations 
Eace-Penitence  Essential  to  a  New  World-Order 
Human  Helplessness  the  Call  for  Eedemption 

Chapter  VI:     Passion-tide .    133 

The  Suffering  God 

Social  Causes  of  the  Passion 

The  Church  and  Her  Master 
Two  Aspects  of  Sacrifice 

Endurance :   Action 
Possibilities  of  Sacrifice 

Class-Sacrifice 

National  Sacrifice 

A   Crucified  Church 
The  One  Holy  Perfect  and  Sufficient  Sacrifice 

Chapter  VII:    Easter-tide 161 

The   Triumph  of   the  Spirit 

The  Risen  Life  and  Social  Behaviour 

Social  Values  of  Faith  in  Immortality 

The  Easter  Teaching  Concerning  the  Kingdom  of  God 

The  Nature  of  the  Kingdom 

The  Mind  of  Christ 

Unto  the  Uttermost  Parts  of  the  Earth 

Chapter   VIII:    Whitsuntide 185 

The  Doctrine  of  the  Spirit  the  Sanction  of  Democracy 
Whitsunday  the  Birthday  of  the  Church 

The  Church  the  Instrument  of  Democracy 


Table  of  Contents  xiii 

PAGE 

The   Whitsun   Chrism 

The  Gift  of   Tongues 

Christian  Internationalism 
The  Community   of  Goods 

Illustrations  of  the  Christian  Attitude  toward  Prop- 
erty 
The  Modem  Opportunity 

Chapter  IX:     Trinity-tide 215 

The    Eight    Conception    of    God    the    Goal   of    Human 

Striving 
God  in  Man's  Image 

Social  Origins  of  the  Idea  of  God 
Synthetic  Character  of  Faith  in  the  Trinity 
Democratic  Implications  of  the  Doctrine 
Love  Absolute 
Fellowship  Eternal 
Man  in  God's  Image 

The  Idea  of  God  the  Norm  to  which  Society  must 

Conform 
Equality  of  Eank:  Diversity  of  Function 

The  Trinitarian  Formula  the  Guarantee  of  So- 
cial Equality 
The  Functions  of  the  Godhead  the  Example  for 
Man:  Creation;  Redemption;  Sanctification 
The  Adoration   of   the   Trinity   the   True   Incentive   to 
Social  Action 

Chapter  X:     The    Eucharist 245 

The   Eucharist   the   Permanent  Fact   in   Christian   Ex- 
perience 

The  Eucharist  the  Summary  of  Christian  Truth 

The  Office  of  Holy  Communion:  Social  Emphases 

The  Sacrament  of   Unity 
One   Bread,   One   Body 

Historic  Associations:  The  Memorial  Aspect 
Contacts  with  Ancient  Faiths 

God  Forever  the  Food  of  Man 

"Ourselves,    our    souls    and    bodies'' 

The  Sacramental  Life  Competent  to  Alter  Human 

Nature 
The  Sacramental  Life  the  Ground  of  Social  Hope 

*' Behold,  I  make  all  Things  New." 


SOCIAL  TEACHINGS  OF 
THE  CHRISTIAN  YEAR 


"In  Divinity  I  keep  the  road,  and  though  not  in 
an  implicit e  yet  in  an  humble  faith,  follow   the 
great  Wheele  of  the  Church  hy  which  I  move,'* 
— SiE  Thomas  Browne,  Beligio  Medici. 


SOCIAL  TEACHINGS 

OF  THE 

CHRISTIAN  YEAR 

INTRODUCTION 

The  slow  formation  of  a  Christian  social  mind 
is  one  of  the  greatest  things  happening  in  this 
great  epoch;  for  it  means  that  Christian  people 
are  regaining  a  passionate  allegiance  to  the  Mas- 
ter's purpose,  the  creation  of  the  Kingdom  of  ^God 
on  earth.  They  are  eager  and  ready  to  follow  this 
purpose,  no  matter  how  revolutionary  be  the 
changes  in  the  political  or  economic  order  to  which 
it  may  lead. 

The  enquiry  as  to  what  the  purpose  involves  is 
no  easy  one ;  it  calls  for  all  the  sanity,  courage  and 
intellectual  acumen  that  the  seeker  can  command. 
^*  Speak,  Lord,  for  Thy  servant  heareth,"  must  be 
the  cry  of  the  soul;  but  to  distinguish  the  Lord's 
words  in  the  din  of  conflicting  theories  is  a  grave 
and  difficult  matter.    The  Christian  turns  to  the 


2  Social  Teachings 

Church  of  Christ  fer  guidance,  and  he  does  not 
turn  in  vain.  Only,  he  must  realize  that  the  au- 
thentic voice  of  the  Church  reaches  him,  not 
through  any  casual  or  temporary  channel,  but 
through  the  spiritual  truths  on  which  she  con- 
centrates the  hearts  of  her  children.  To  Church 
folk,  at  least,  the  solemn  recurrent  rhythms  of  the 
Sacred  Seasons  reveal  ever  new  depths  of  mean- 
ing in  the  mysteries  of  Judgment  and  Incarnation, 
of  Penitence,  Atonement  and  Eesurrection,  in  the 
thought  of  the  Church  as  the  tabernacle  of  the 
Indwelling  Spirit,  and  in  that  consummation  of 
Catholic  faith,  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity. 
Every  one  of  these  mysteries  carries  a  distinct 
social  message;  taken  together,  they  are  for  the 
Christian  the  ultimate  source  of  all  true  social 
theory  and  the  guide  to  all  right  social  action. 

This  is  not  a  statement  that  will  commend  itself 
widely.  Dogma  is  unfashionable,  and  the  Church 
Year  is  saturated  with  dogma.  Modem  radicals, 
appalled  by  the  failure  of  Christianity  to  control 
the  behavior  of  classes  or  nations,  turn  from  its 
doctrines  with  contempt.  If  they  are  religiously 
disposed,  they  point  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
and  summon  us  sharply  away  from  the  formulae 
of  the  Church  to  the  words  of  the  Master.  Chris- 
tian ethic,  rather  than  the  Christian  creed,  is  the 
accepted  authority  for  liberal  social  faith. 


Introduction  3 

And  the  authority  is  good;  for  no  one  can  read 
the  words  of  Jesus  honestly  and  not  be  shocked  in 
turning  to  contemporary  life.  The  salutary  con- 
trast has  become  a  platitude;  it  even  gets  into 
the  newspapers!  We  are  not  allowed  to  forget  \ 
that  our  industrial  system  virtually  says,  Cursed 
are  the  poor,  Cursed  are  the  meek;  that  instead 
of  turning  the  other  cheek  we  hit  back  when  we 
are  struck,  and  far  from  overcoming  evil  with 
good,  try  to  overcome  it  by  more  vigorous  evil; 
that  Christian  manufacturers,  instead  of  giving 
unto  the  last  as  unto  the  first,  are  likely  to  buy 
their  labor  as  cheap  as  they  can  get  it,  and  ar'e 
often  disposed  to  fight  a  living  wage  to  the  finish ; 
that  we  do  not  fill  the  hungry  with  good  things  and 
assuredly  do  not  send  the  rich  away  empty.  The 
permanent  contradiction  between  Christian  morals 
and  world-morals  is  a  puzzle,  and  a  permanentj 
disgrace. 

But  even  while  stressing  this  contradiction, 
social  Christianity  needs  another  line  of  attack. 
For  the  radicalism  which  feeds  wholly  on  such 
contrasts  is  ill-nourished,  and  in  disgust  with  the 
Church  is  likely  to  slip  away  from  Christ.  We 
need  to  find  in  Christianity  not  only  precept  but  j 
dynamic,  not  only  moral  teaching  but  a  revela- 
tion of  God's  actual  dealings  with  men.  Despite 
anti-dogmatic  prejudice  and  anti-clerical  revolt, 


4  Social  Teachings 

despite  an  alignment  which  for  the  past  hundred 
years  or  more  has  thrown  the  forces  of  progress 
largely  on  the  non-Christian  side,  the  real  source 
of  sound  social  philosophy  must  be  sought,  not 
only  in  the  Teaching  of  Christ  but  in  His  Person;, 
and,  for  the  Christian,  Christ  is  interpreted  aright 
in  His  Mystical  Body. 

In  the  flow  of  the  Church  Seasons,  Christian  ex- 
perience is  revealed  as  a  living  thing,  based  on 
historic  facts;  and  dogma  is  shown  to  be,  not  a 
mass  of  abstract  assumptions  torn  out  of  life,  but 
a  transcript  of  realities  as  encountered  by  the  soul. 
By  these  realities,  all  social  phenomena  must  be 
measured.  Unless  our  rising  faith  in  social  equal- 
ity, in  industrial  democracy,  in  internationalism, 
be  rooted  in  Catholic  truth,  one  of  two  things  will 
happen:  either  that  truth  will  be  discredited,  or 
the  social  creed  professed  by  liberals  the  world 
over  will  suffer  defeat.  For  the  Christian  radical, 
neither  alternative  is  conceivable.  He  believes 
that  the  amazing  harmony  between  Christian  truth 
and  the  new  order  is  waiting  to  be  discovered; 
and  he  is  quite  sure  that  only  from  the  roots  of  a 
Christian  and  Catholic  civilization  could  bloom  the 
fair  flower  of  a  cooperative  commonwealth,  for 
whose  unfolding  we  watch  and  pray. 

I  This  little  book  proposes  then  to  study  the  social 


Introduction  5 

implications  of  the  Church  Year  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  The  method 
will  be  a  consecutive  interpretation  of  the  Sacred 
Seasons,  usually  combined  with  meditation  on  the 
social  suggestions  of  the  Epistles  and  Gospels 
from  week  to  week.  The  passages  in  the  nature 
of  specific  commentary  can  best  be  followed  by 
those  who  read,  Prayer-Book  in  hand,  with  a  view 
to  private  devotion  or  perhaps  to  class-work ;  for 
it  is  hoped  that  the  book  may  be  a  companion  in 
Bible-Classes.  But  such  passages  can  easily  be 
skipped  by  people  who  do  not  care  for  close  study 
of  this  kind  or  who  have  no  Prayer-Book  by  them ; 
they  are  independent  of  the  general  interpretation. 
Let  no  one  suppose  that  by  the  approach  to  the 
great  truths  commemorated  in  successive  seasons, 
Christian  ethics  is  overlooked.  The  Epistles  and 
Gospels  for  the  seasons  are  ethical  in  their  very 
fibre;  only,  from  Advent  to  Trinity,  first  stress 
is  put  on  doctrine.  During  these  seasons,  the 
Church  dwells  primarily  on  the  great  facts  of  the 
life  of  Christ,  His  coming,  His  incarnation.  His 
ministry,  death,  and  resurrection,  His  sending  of 
the  Spirit,  His  eternal  glory  in  the  unity  of  the 
Godhead.  The  Gospels  which  record  these  facts 
naturally  take  the  lead,  while  the  Epistles  illus- 
trate and  apply.  After  Trinity,  the  emphasis 
changes ;  development  of  Christian  duty  in  the  life 


6  Social  Teachings 

of  the  Church  is  to  the  fore.  The  key-note  from 
week  to  week  is  therefore  more  likely  to  be  found 
in  the  Epistle,  and  the  illustration  in  the  Grospel. 
This  order,  which  places  the  apprehension  of 
divine  Mysteries  before  the  quest  of  practical 
duty,  is  not  now  popular;  but  it  is  the  deliberately 
chosen  order  of  the  Church. 

Before  starting  to  consider  the  Sacred  Seasons, 
'  it  is  well  to  note  two  points. 

The  first  is,  that  the  very  existence  of  the 
Church  Year  as  presented  in  the  Prayer-Book,  is 
a  tremendous  witness  to  the  power  of  the  social 
instinct.  No  better  illustration  exists  of  the  vital 
continuity  of  a  corporate  life  down  the  ages. 
The  Church,  the  Beloved  Community,  is  the  instru- 
ment of  this  life  at  its  best,  and  the  heart  of  the 
Church  is  in  her  worship.  To  feel  how  true  this 
is,  it  is  only  necessary  to  glance  at  the  living, 
harmonious  work  of  the  devout  Christian  mind 
from  generation  to  generation. 
V  *^The  Collects,  Epistles  and  Gospels  are,  with 
^  some  exceptions,  the  same  that  had  been  appointed 
in  the  ancient  use  of  the  English  Church.''  ^    The 

*A  New  History  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  Procter 
and  Frere.    Macmillan,  1919. 

See  also,  The  Prayer-Book  Interleaved,  Campion  and  Bea- 
mont.  Eivingtons,  1876.  This  book  has  been  of  great  value 
throughout  the  following  study. 


Introduction  7 

basis  of  the  arrangement  is  the  ^^ Comes,"  Com- 
panion, or  Handbook,  traditionally  ascribed  to  St. 
Jerome  early  in  the  fifth  century;  but  the  more 
direct  source  is  the  Sarum  Missal,  or,  at  a  still 
earlier  date,  the  Missal  of  Leofric,  tenth  century 
Bishop  of  Exeter.  The  Eeformation,  however, 
which  simplified  so  much  in  the  over-rich  liturgical 
growth  of  the  later  Middle  Ages,  also  added  much. 
We  owe  to  the  sixteenth  century  reformers  cer- 
tain of  our  most  beautiful  collects,  as  for  example 
those  for  the  first  and  second  Sundays  in  Advent, 
that  for  the  second  communion  on  Christmas  Day 
(the  collect  for  the  first  communion  is  from  the 
ancient  mass  of  the  Christmas  vigil),  those  for 
Quinquagesima,  Ash- Wednesday,  the  first  Sunday 
in  Lent  and  All  Saints.  These  noble  prayers, 
which  take  their  place  so  naturally  in  the  sequence, 
certainly  testify  to  the  spiritual  fervor  and  sound 
Catholicity  of  the  Reformers.  The  Scottish 
Church  gives  us  the  collect  for  Easter  Even,  and 
an  American  divine.  Dr.  Huntington,  added  to  the 
fifteenth  century  Feast  of  the  Transfiguration  one 
of  the  most  exquisite  collects  in  the  Prayer-Book. 
There  could  hardly  be  a  fuller  expression  of 
organic  human  fellowship  than  this  long  story.  ^ 
[  For  the  true  social  instinct  looks  not  only  around,  / 
but  back.  It  unites  men,  not  only  to  the  comrades 
of  their  own  day,  but  to  the  vast  majority  who 


8  Social  Teachings 

have  passed  beyond  the  touch  of  sense  though  not 
beyond  the  touch  of  faith.  Time  and  space  can 
not  bind  it ;  it  can  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short 
of  the  whole  Communion  of  Saints. 

The  first  social  gift  of  the  Church  Year  is  then 
the  initiation  into  a  great  brotherhood;  and  the 
second  is  the  searching  social  discipline  afforded 
by  the  observance  of  the  Seasons. 

The  Puritans  discarded  this  discipline,  not  only 
because  it  was  Popish  in  their  eyes,  but  because 
it  was  social.  To  their  extreme  individualism,  the 
summons  to  rejoice  all  together  on  the  twenty-fifth 
of  December  or  to  grieve  all  together  on  a  special 
Friday,  seemed  unreal  and  formal.  A  human  in- 
stinct led  them,  to  be  sure,  to  invent  new  forms  of 
social  expression,  like  Thantsgiving  Day;  but 
their  aversion  to  the  Feasts  and  Fasts  of  the 
Church  lingered  tenaciously  till  well  within  the 
memories  of  our  own  time. 

But  all  Churches,  not  only  those  subject  to 
bishops,  are  now  realizing  the  helpful  glow  of 
these  collective  experiences,  and  are  adopting  the 
great  Catholic  days  and  seasons.  This  is  because 
we  are  really  growing  more  fraternal,  and  like 
to  share  our  life  much  as  a  family  might.  Men 
are  finding  out,  moreover,  that  the  power  so  to 
share  emotion  releases  rather  than  inhibits  person- 
ality.   When  is  a  man  most  fully  himself?    When 


Introduction  9 

has  his  spirit  been  most  strongly  fulfilled  in  glad- 
ness or  desire?  Less  often  in  solitary  exaltation 
than  at  times  when  consciousness  has  been  swept 
onward  and  upward  by  **one  common  wave  of 
hope  and  joy,  lifting  mankind  again."  Thousands 
knew  such  absolution  and  enrichment  of  being 
during  the  Great  War :  purified,  freed,  enlarged  in 
their  whole  manhood  or  womanhood,  by  sharing 
a  nation's  life.  Whether  in  sober  or  catastrophic 
times,  the  wisdom  of  the  Church  steadfastly  sup- 
plies such  experience,  through  the  epic  cycle  of 
her  Year.  No  military  drill  can  surpass  that 
discipline  in  its  power  to  secure  inward  solidarity. 
How  good'  it  is  for  us !  If  sorrow  befalls  at 
Christmas,  what  comfort  to  rejoice  that  Love  is 
bom  among  men!  If  joy  comes  on  Ash- Wednes- 
day, how  steadying  the  restraint  of  accepting  our 
share  in  the  penitence  of  a  sinful  world !  By  so 
merging  personal  mood  and  circumstance  in  the  I 
universal  emotion  of  Christendom,  there  is  in- 
calculable gain  in  subtle  spiritual  courtesy.  Nor 
can  many  more  effective  means  be  found  for  escap- 
ing the  self-centredness  which  is  nowhere  more 
a  curse  than  in  the  religious  life. 

And  look  at  the  matter,  further,  from  the  point 
of  view,  not  of  the  individual  but  of  the  com- 
munity.   Are  we  not  coming  to  feel  that  in  one  ^ 
way  or  another,  the  Catholic  ideal  which  subordi- 


10  Social  Teachings 

nates  personal  to  general  emotion,  is  needed  by 
the  modern  state  ?  Mechanical  and  automatic  sub- 
jection to  authority  is  bad,  whether  in  state  or 
Church;  but  voluntary  self-control,  bom  of  im- 
aginative sympathy,  is  the  first  qualification  for 
democracy.  A  loving  obedience  to  the  will  of 
Mother  Church  as  she  calls  her  children  to  follow 
the  successive  phases  of  her  dramatic  sequence, 
can  furnish  powerful  aid  in  forming  the  interior 
habits  which  must  be  the  strength  of  a  socialized 
civilization.  Our  national  life  needs  nothing  so 
much  as  a  sense  of  unity;  and  unity  worth  having 
can  not  be  imposed  from  without  or  above,  imper- 
ialisms to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  It  must 
flow  forth  from  the  spiritual  organism  into  the 
political. 

In  our  irresponsible  and  individualistic  democ- 
racy, the  value  of  the  regulating  and  fusing  power 
afforded  by  Catholic  tradition,  must  be  evident 
to  every  thoughtful  Churchman ;  and  his  recogni- 
tion of  this  value  can  add  a  patriotic  stimulus  to 
the  passion  with  which  he  tries  to  use  and  share 
his  privileges.  Of  course,  the  observance  of  the 
Christian  Seasons  is  only  one  aspect  of  the  corpo- 
rate Catholic  life;  but  it  is  a  dramatized  aspect 
which  appeals  to  every  man,  woman  and  child. 
Enhanced  fidelity  in  the  observance  might  be  one 
useful  way  of  easing  the  transition  from  an  in- 


Introduction  II 

dividualistic  society  where  every  man  is  cheer- 
fully fighting  and  feeling  '^on  his  own,"  to  the 
socialized  democracy  where  every  man  shall  dis- 
cover his  true  freedom,  in  the  harmony  of  fellow- 
ship. 

This  socialized  democracy  may  be  coming  sooner 
than  we  think.  When  it  arrives,  its  citizens  may 
well  recognize  that  qualities  most  conducive  to  the 
health  and  peace  of  their  politico-industrial  exist- 
ence result  from  the  training  offered  by  the  ever- 
changing,  ever-renewed  corporate  experience  of 
the  Christian  Mysteries.  The  Catholic  life  should 
normally  be  the  soul  of  the  democratic  state. 


CHAPTER  I:    THE  SEASON  OF  ADVENT 

Antiphon:  When  ye  see  these  things, 
know  ye  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
nigh   at  hand. 

V.  It  is  high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep. 

R.  For  now  is  our  salvation  nearer  than 
when  we  believed. 

Almighty  God,  give  us  grace  that  we 
may  east  away  the  works  of  darkness,  and 
put  upon  us  the  armour  of  light,  now  in 
the  time  of  this  mortal  life,  in  which  Thy 
Son  Jesus  Christ  came  to  visit  us  in  great 
humility;  that  in  the  last  day,  when  He 
shall  come  again  in  His  glorious  majesty  to 
judge  both  the  quick  and  the  dead,  we  may 
rise  to  the  life  immortal,  through  Him  Who 
liveth  and  reigneth  with  Thee  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  now  and  ever.  Amen. 


13 


CHAPTER  I:    THE  SEASON  OF  ADVENT 

ADVENT  is  a  paradoxical  season ;  like  a  Col- 
lege commencemeiit,  it  registers  a  beginning 
as  well  as  an  end.  In  the  mystic  spiral  of  Christian 
experience,  Trinity-tide  gathers  up  and  applies  the 
lessons  so  far  learned,  and  naturally  develops  a 
craving  for  future  revelations  yet  to  be.  Year 
by  year.  Advent  satisfies  this  craving,  and  is  wel- 
comed by  faithful  hearts  with  a  sense  of  relief. 
In  the  quaint  words  of  the  old  hymn,  we  rise  to 
stretch  our  wings  and  trace  our  better  portion. 
Our  imagination  is  eagerly  quickened,  and  we  hear 
with  exhilaration  the  solemn  trumpet-call,  '^It  is 
high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep.'' 

The  season  is  at  once  retrospective  and  pro- 
phetic; it  looks  backward  to  the  Incarnation,  for- 
ward to  the  Day  of  Doom,  and  within  these  two 
Comings  of  God  in  humanity.  His  Coming  as  the 
Child  and  as  the  Judge,  is  implicitly  comprised 
all  relation  of  Christ  to  His  world.  Christianity 
is  an  historic  religion,  and  in  Advent  the  historic  | 
sense  is  particularly  strong.  Christianity  is  also 
a  philosophical  and  ethical  religion,  and  in  Advent 
the  initial  principles  which  should  define  the  Chris- 

15 


i6  Social  Teachings 

tian  attitude  are  sharply  brought  out  into  light. 
From  either  point  of  view,  the  message  of  the  sea- 
son is  threefold.  It  is  a  message  of  Change,  it 
is  a  message  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  it  is  a 
message  of  Judgment. 

The  message  of  Change  is  patent.  The  first 
social  lesson  of  the  Christian  Year  is  that  of  life's 
perpetual  flux.  Movement,  not  stability,  is  the 
law  of  the  Christian  life,  and  of  God's  self -revela- 
tion in  history.  This  is  a  fact  important  to  real- 
ize at  the  outset;  for  our  instinct  is  often  to  stay 
put,  and  to  envisage  change  with  distrust  and 
dread;  while  the  fundamental  method  of  the 
Church  is  to  keep  us  steadily,  as  Maeterlinck  says 
we  should  be  kept,  in  the  light  of  a  great  expecta- 
tion. The  first  thing  she  does  with  us  is  to  turn 
us  to  face  the.  future. 

Institutional  religion  is  constantly  criticized  as 
being  formal,  static,  ultra-conservative.  And  no 
liberal  can  deny  that  the  criticism  is  partly  just, 
when  he  remembers  the  impenetrable  wall  of  oppo- 
sition to  social  developments  which  the  Church 
has  often  presented ;  indeed,  it  suffices  him  to  re- 
call the  role  of  organized  religion  during  the 
Great  War.  It  is  good  for  the  liberal  to  curb 
his  impatience  by  recognizing  the  legitimate  rea- 
son for  this  tendency.    As  every  Catholic  knows, 


The  Season  of  Advent  17 

the  Institution  preserves  a  mystic  impulse  at  its 
heart ;  it  exists  to  offer  in  a  world  of  change  the 
sure  refuge  of  contact  with  eternity;  and  when 
men  gain  power  to  *^ break  through"  into  this 
refuge,  they  are  very  likely  at  first  to  lose  their 
sense  of  instability  and  their  interest  in  motion. 
Now  it  is  restful  to  find  in  religion  an  eternal 
calm ;  but  if  we  read  the  Scriptures  aright,  we  real- 
ize that  it  is  fallacious.  For  legitimate  rest  is 
found,  not  in  cessation  but  in  the  harmonious 
rhythms  of  growth ;  and  the  true  Eternity  in  which 
the  religious  man  consciously  abides  is  no  majestic 
frozen  pause,  but  an  unfolding  life  that  flows  for- 
ever from  the  Divine.  Our  God  is  today  a  God/) 
known  to  us  only  in  process.  We  are  forever 
children  of  process  ourselves,  and  we  would  better 
frankly  carry  our  evolutionary  ideas  over  into  our 
relations  with  the  Eternal,  and  neutralize  that 
dangerous  old  impulse  to  stiffen  in  our  minds  as 
soon  as  we  become  religious. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  conservative  habits  of 
organized  religion  find  scant  sanction  in  the  au- 
thoritative life  and  teaching  of  the  Church:  the 
cycle  of  Christian  experience  starts  with  solemn 
emphasis  on  the  warning  note  of  perpetual 
change;  and  there  is  a  revolutionary  quality  to" 
Advent  emotion. 

The  first  Collect,  repeated  every  day  till  Christ- 


1 8  Social  Teachings 

mas,  is  the  dominant  of  the  season.  In  magnifi- 
cent cadences,  it  spans  the  whole  course  of  Chris- 
tian history,  and  faces  us  toward  the  eternity 
which  lies  beyond.  No  one  who  prays  it  can  run 
contented,  squirrel-wise,  in  his  round.  It  gen- 
erates at  once  the  temper  of  noble  excitement. 

The  Epistle  for  this  first  Sunday  calls  us  back 
to  sobriety;  it  opens  with  enumeration  of  plain 
moral  duties  summed  up  in  the  law  of  love. 
Christianity  never  fails  in  steadfastness  and  san- 
ity, but  neither  does  it  ever  stop  with  them;  and 
all  of  a  sudden,  unexpectedly,  St.  Paul  quickens 
our  blood  with  the  superb  passage:  ^* Knowing 
the  time,  that  now  it  is  high  time  to  awake  out 
of  sleep:  for  now  is  our  salvation  nearer  than 
when  we  believed.  The  night  is  far  spent,  the 
day  is  at  hand :  let  us  therefore  cast  off  the  works 
of  darkness,  and  let  us  put  on  the  armor  of  light." 
In  like  manner,  the  second  Epistle  begins  char- 
acteristically with  warning  us  to  be  true  to  past 
tradition  in  all  pioneer  adventure ;  but  loyalty  to 
^*  whatsoever  things  were  written  aforetime"  leads 
out  instantly  to  hope,  and  to  the  exhilarating  re- 
minder that  tradition  exists  to  expand,  and  that 
the  Gentiles  are  to  rejoice  with  the  Chosen  Peo- 
ple. The  third  and  fourth  Epistles  find  incentive 
to  fidelity,  in  expectation  of  the  time  when  the  hid- 
den things  of  darkness  shall  be  brought  to  light, 


The  Season  of  Advent  19 

and  the  counsels  of  the  hearts  made  manifest ;  and 
commend  to  the  waiting  soul  the  difficult  union  of 
joy  and  moderation,  promising  even  to  those 
whose  eyes  strain  to  the  future  age,  the  peace  that 
passeth  understanding. 

Perhaps  it  is  to  emancipate  us  from  the  rigidity  | 
of  one  exclusive  thought  that  the  Church  inaugu- 
rates her  year  with  commemoration  of  a  Coming 
not  obviously  distinctive  of  the  season,  and  dis- 
concerting at  this  point  to  the  literal  minded ;  the 
Gospel  for  the  first  Advent  Sunday  is  the  Entry 
into  Jerusalem.  Here,  at  all  events,  is  a  great 
fulfilment  and  also  a  great  warning ;  for  the  Lord 
Whom  we  seek  comes  suddenly  to  His  temple  and 
purifies  it  in  its  shame.  But  the  second  Gospel 
sweeps  us  straight  forward  to  the  awful  consum- 
mation of  history.  The  third  Gospel  reminds  us 
tenderly  of  the  social  emancipations  which  are 
ever  the  signs  of  the  Coming  of  the  Lord :  *  *  The 
blind  receive  their  sight,  and  the  lame  walk,  the 
lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead 
are  raised  up,  and" — climax  even  beyond  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead, — *^the  poor  have  the 
Gospel  preached  to  them.'*  The  fourth  Sunday 
gives  us  the  Gospel  of  the  Forerunner. 

In  all  these  Scriptures,  as  in  the  Lessons  ap- 
pointed throughout  Advent  for  Morning  and 
Evening  Prayer,  the  emphasis  is  fully  as  social 


20  Social  Teachings 

as  it  is  personal.  It  is  to  the  Church  that  St.  Paul 
addresses  himself.  It  is  Israel  the  Chosen  Nation 
which  all  the  great  prophetic  utterances  have  in 
mind.  Today,  the  Church  and  the  nation,  as  well 
as  the  individual,  should  heed  the  call.  If  we  enter 
into  the  spirit  of  the  season,  we  shall  escape  all 
timid  dread  of  change,  all  obstinate  clinging  to 
accustomed  ways,  in  our  own  life  or  in  the  social 
order.  That  ^^ custom,"  which  *4ies  upon  us  with 
a  weight  heavy  as  frost  and  deep  almost  as  life," 
will  cease  to  press  us  down.  Our  temper  will  be- 
come alert,  heroic,  vigilant ;  ever  earnestly  watch- 
ful for  the  Signs  of  the  Coming  of  the  Son  of  Man. 

It  is  as  a  King  that  Christ  comes  to  the  Daugh- 
ter of  Sion;  and  the  next  message  of  Advent  is 
the  message  of  the  Kingdom.  ^^So  likewise  ye, 
when  ye  see  these  things  come  to  pass,  know  ye 
that  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  nigh  at  hand,"  says 
the  second  Gospel.  This  very  political  Gospel 
looks  directly  forward  to  the  mystic  future  when 
the  Kingdom  shall  triumph  visibly ;  the  third  Gos- 
pel carries  us  back  to  those  happy  days  of  the 
Galilean  Ministry  when  the  Lord  preached  to  the 
poor  the  Glad  News  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 
And  so  the  season  calls  us  to  contemplate  that 
Kingdom,  at  once  as  solemn  promise  for  the 
Golden  Age  to  come,  and  as  blessed  reality  here 


The  Season  of  Advent  21 

and  now,  in  so  far  as  the  faithful  follow  their 
Master  in  His  healing  and  releasing  work  for  suf- 
fering men. 

The  Bible  emphasis  on  the  Kingdom  of  God  is 
so  impressive,  so  central,-that  one  marvels  how  the 
Church  could  drop  it  out  of  her  mind,  as  she  did 
during  long  centuries.  Perhaps  the  greatest  relig- 
ious gain  of  our  own  day  is  the  rediscovery  of  this 
^'dear  truth,"  as  Dr.  Eauschenbusch  loved  tO//^ 
call  it.  Our  social  age  has  naturally  discerned  it 
in  the  Scriptures,  for  the  Word  of  God  has  in- 
exhaustible treasures,  to  meet  distinctive  and  suc- 
cessive needs.  But  the  social  conception  of  the 
Kingdom,  which  has  rapidly  taken  possession  of 
Christian  minds,  has  two  groups  of  thoughtful 
opponents. 

The  first  group  includes  those  older  thinkers 
who  desire  either  to  identify  the  Kingdom  with 
the  Church,  or  to  construe  it  in  a  purely  inward 
sense.  And  it  would  seem  that  neither  interpre- 
tation stands  the  test  of  close  modern  study  of  the 
text  of  Scripture.  To  compress  the  ideal  of  the 
Kingdom  within  the  actualities  of  the  historic 
Church  is  a  feat  which  few  can  perform;  it  is 
clear  that  the  mind  of  Jesus  enshrined  the  vision 
of  a  fellowship  which  the  Church  has  rarely  ap- 
proximated, and  of  which  it  is  at  best  an  imperfect 
instrument.      On    the    other    hand,    no    modern 


22  Social  Teachings 

scholar  holds  that  the  individualistic  conception 
exhausts  the  thought  as  it  lay  in  the  Holy  Mind. 
It  is  surely  true  that  the  Kingdom  is  ^^ within''  or 
*^ among"  us;  it  is  ** righteousness,  peace,  joy  in 
the  Holy  Ghost."  But  Jesus  inherited  the  rich 
national  ideal  of  a  coming  Eeign  of  Justice  on 
earth.  He  adopted  the  ideal  to  transform  it,  but 
only  as  He  adopted  to  transform  the  Decalogue, — 
not  by  superseding,  but  by  broadening  and  deep- 
ening. 

While  these  older  interpretations  fade,  absorbed 
in  a  stronger  and  wider  thought,  criticisms  on  the 
conception  of  the  Kingdom  emerge  from  another 
quarter.  There  is  a  growing  distaste  among  some 
people  for  the  beloved  phrase.  The  meticulously- 
minded  radical  objects  to  talking  about  any  King- 
dom at  all,  even  that  of  Heaven,  and  proposes  to 
throw  the  expression  on  the  scrap-heap,  along  with 
all  those  monarchical  hymns  which  do  certainly 
fail  to  meet  the  modern  mind.  Perhaps  he  may 
succeed;  the  Lord's  ideal  might  conceivably  be  as 
well  rendered  by  talking  of  the  Eepublic  of  God, 
as  of  the  Kingdom.  It  may  be  noted,  however, 
that  we  shall  probably  continue  to  speak  of  the 
kingdom  of  Nature,  the  vegetable,  animal  and 
mineral  kingdoms ;  and  fussy  people  can  continue 
to  use  the  old  term  in  this  accredited  sense  with 
no  violation  of  its  true  meaning,  for  the  kingdom 


The  Season  of  Advent  23 

indicated  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  obviously 
a  supernatural  order,  governed  by  the  influx  of 
new  forces  and  developing  new  types ;  bearing  in 
a  way  much  the  same  relation  to  the  kingdom  of 
Nature  as  the  animal  kingdom  bears  to  the  min- 
eral. 

Most  of  us,  however,  shall  remain  satisfied  to 
use  the  old  sacred  wording  in  the  old  sacred  sense, 
— reminding  ourselves,  with  Euskin  and  Carlyle, 
that  while  political  kings  may  vanish,  real  king- 
ship of  the  archetypal  kind  persists  forever  in 
Heaven,  and  can  never  perish  from  the  earth.  We 
thankfully  recognize  that,  humanly  speaking,  the 
establishment  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  was  the  pur- 
pose of  Jesus'  life.  It  is  the  constant  theme  of 
all  the  swift  dramatic  changes  recorded  in  the 
Gospels;  and  the  *'note"  of  the  Kingdom,  first 
struck  in  Advent,  is  naturally  repeated  in  each 
successive  season  of  the  Church's  Year.  The 
Social  Order  bom  from  above,  the  Beloved  Com- 
munity, already  present  in  faithful  hearts,  but 
shining  in  its  full  glory  as  the  far  goal  of  our 
desire, — this,  through  all  phases  of  penitence  and 
exaltation,  of  tragedy  and  triumph,  the  Chnrch 
never  allows  us  to  forget. 

But  the  message  of  Change  and  the  message  of 
the  Kingdom  alike  find  point  and  culmination 


24  Social  Teachings 

throughout  Advent  in  the  message  of  Judgment; 
we  can  not  rightfully  apprehend  either  until  we 
knit  them  into  the  great  distinctive  theme  of  the 
Season.  It  is  the  Coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  which 
shall  inaugurate  that  glorious  Day  when  the 
righteous  shall  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  King- 
dom of  the  Father;  it  is  the  awed  expectation  of 
that  Coming  which  detaches  the  Christian  from 
tenacious  clinging  to  established  things,  and 
makes,  or  should  make,  an  evolutionist  of  him. 
The  Church,  in  the  great  Advent  Collect,  keeps 
daily  before  our  minds  ^^the  last  Day  when  He 
shall  come  again  in  His  glorious  majesty  to  judge 
both  the  quick  and  the  dead" ;  and  through  Gospels 
and  Epistles  to  the  very  end  of  the  season,  the 
Apocalyptic  hope  of  the  Early  Church,  the  definite 
expectation  of  the  Coming  in  Judgment  of  the  Son 
of  Man,  shines  clear. 

What  does  this  hope  mean  to  us, — Christians 
of  the  Twentieth  Century, — anything  at  all? 

Very  little,  it  may  be  feared.  Except  for  small 
groups  here  and  there,  effective  belief  in  the 
Second  Advent  has  by  tacit  consent  dropped  out 
from  the  mind  of  the  Church.  Mechanical  inter- 
pretations have  discredited  it  in  any  literal  form, 
and  in  such  form  it  is  not  likely  to  recur  among 
educated  people.  That  old  vision  of  the  dead, 
small  and  great,  standing  before  God,  the  vision 


The  Season  of  Advent  25 

celebrated  in  the  solemn  rhythms  of  the  Dies  Irae, 
painted  by  Orcagna  and  Michelangelo,  haunts  us 
no  longer.  It  was  replaced  for  a  time  by  belief 
in  an  individual  judgment  occurring  at  death,  but 
this  conception  too  has  failed ;  for  few  people  prob- 
ably now  believe  in  a  probation  which  ends  when 
we  leave  the  body.  Judgment,  to  the  modern  man, 
is  no  longer  a  solemn  climax,  placed  in  the  future ; 
it  is  continuous  process  going  on  now;  it  is  part  of 
the  ceaseless  weaving  of  the  web  of  life. 

^^Is  there  but  one  Day  of  Judgment?"  writes 
John  Euskin.  ^  ^  Why,  for  us  every  day  is  a  Day  of 
Judgment — every  day  is  a  Dies  Irae  and  writes 
its  irrevocable  verdict  in  the  flame  of  its  West 
Think  you  that  judgment  waits  till  the  doors  of 
the  grave  are  opened?  It  waits  at  the  doors  of 
your  houses, — it  waits  at  the  corners  of  your 
streets ;  we  are  in  the  midst  of  judgment — the  in- 
sects that  we  crush  are  our  judges — the  moments 
we  fret  away  are  our  judges — the  elements  that 
feed  us,  judge,  as  they  minister — and  the  pleasures 
that  deceive  us,  judge  as  they  indulge.''  ^ 

How  spiritual  this  is,  how  beautifully  put,  how 
true !  And  yet  at  the  same  time  it  is  quite  inade- 
quate from  the  point  of  view  of  Scripture.  New 
Testament  writers  hold  relentlessly  before  us  the 
vision  of  a  Judgment  not  only  continuous  but 

*  Euskin:    The  '^jsterj  of  Life   an3  its  Arts. 


26  Social  Teachings 

catastrophic,  not  only  present  but  future,  not  only- 
personal  but  corporate.  The  Church,  in  stressing 
the  same  unpopular  thought  at  the  opening  of  her 
sequence  of  Christian  experience,  is  merely  loyal 
to  the  Bible.  There  can  be  no  lack  of  precision  in 
her  language ;  it  is  almost  melodramatic : — 

'  ^  Grant  that  the  ministers  and  stewards  of  Thy 
mysteries  may  likewise  so  prepare  and  make  ready 
Thy  way,  by  turning  the  hearts  of  the  disobedient 
to  the  wisdom  of  the  just,  that  at  Thy  second  Com- 
ing to  judge  the  world  we  may  be  found  an  accept- 
able people  in  Thy  sight.'' 

The  faithful  Churchman  can  hardly  be  content 
to  let  the  whole  difficult  matter  slip  from  his  mind, 
and  go  on,  year  after  year,  singing  hymns  and 
praying  prayers  in  which  he  does  not  believe.  Has 
the  social  interpretation  any  help  to  offer? 

In  answering  this  question,  it  is  well  to  keep  in 
mind  what  was  suggested  at  the  outset.  Every 
phase  of  the  Christian  Year  has  a  double  emphasis. 
It  celebrates  events,  it  also  reveals  principles. 
So,  the  Coming  of  Christ  is  conceived  as  a  definite 
event ;  it  is  also  conceived  as  an  abiding  law  with 
recurrent  manifestations.  And  probably  the  best 
way  to  get  the  right  attitude  toward  the  Church 
teaching  concerning  Judgment  is  to  begin  with 
the  latter  aspect. 

Few  things  are  more  important  than  to  restore 


The  Season  of  Advent  27 

to  the  Christian  mind  the  recognition  that  Jesus 
regarded  catastrophe,  no  less  than  growth,  as  a 
normal  and  necessary  element  in  human  advance. 
He  knew  that  violent  disturbances  were  the  condi- 
tion and  the  preliminary  of  His  Coming.  We  can 
not  keep  one  factor  in  His  teaching  and  reject 
another,  dwell  on  the  parable  of  the  seed  growing 
secretly,  and  forget  the  lightning  flash.  The  Apoc- 
alyptic note  is  struck  too  clearly  and  persistently 
to  be  attributed  to  His  reporters,  or  to  later  edi- 
tors of  His  words. 

Modern  times  have  fought  shy  of  accepting  the 
religious  necessity  of  violent  change.  They  have 
prated  much  of  Progress  and  Uniformity,  of  the 
gradual  character  of  Nature's  processes,  and  have 
turned  away  with  deep  distaste  from  any  forces 
likely  to  create  a  disturbance.  The  cruder  evolu- 
tionary ideas  of  the  last  century  greatly  helped 
this  illusion  of  unbroken  progress ;  for  illusion  it 
is,  and  it  can  not  stand  the  light  of  reality.  Phi- 
losophy is  disillusionizing  the  thinker,  and  the 
grim  facts  of  the  last  decade  have  been  disillusion- 
izing the  man  in  the  street.  Still  we  believe  in  a 
Eeign  of  Law,  but  the  Law  does  not  work  in  the 
fixed  and  placid  way  we  have  assumed ;  its  mani- 
festation in  nature  and  history  does  not  exclude, 
but  includes,  cataclysm.  Earthquake  and  revolu- 
tion are  a  part  of  it,  as  truly  as  sunrise  and  or- 


28  Social  Teachings 

dered  social  life.  Moreover,  the  shock  and  agony, 
the  overthrow  of  the  usual  and  the  normal,  when 
sea  and  waves  are  roaring  and  the  powers  of 
Heaven  are  shaken  and  men's  hearts  fail  them  for 
fear,  are  a  special  revelation  of  the  Eternal,  with- 
out which  His  dealings  with  men  were  incomplete. 
This  is  what  Hebrew  intuition  had  long  seen; 
this  is  what  Jesus,  heir  of  that  intuition,  stressed; 
and  this,  of  a  certainty,  is  the  permanent  and  sure 
truth  which  emerges  profitably  for  us  from  the 
clouded  Apocalyptic  Teaching.  Doubtless  the 
Master  believed  that  such  fearsome,  sudden  rev- 
elation of  the  Judgment  of  God  was  part  of  the 
Divine  Purpose  and  sure  to  occur  within  the  his- 
toric order.  The  disciples  caught  His  meaning; 
and  they  had  no  difficulty  in  making  the  political 
application  to  the  affairs  of  their  own  day.  Who 
shall  say  that  they  were  wrong  when  in  the  phe- 
nomena surrounding  the  fall  of  their  beloved 
Jerusalem  they  discerned  the  fulfilment  of  proph- 
ecy, one  episode  in  the  Judgment  of  God?  Are 
not  the  same  signs  to  be  observed  by  us  in  the  fall 
of  Germany, — and  by  our  children,  conceivably, 
in  the  fall  of  this  entire  Western  civilization  of 
ours  ?  What  is  important  is  that  in  each  of  these 
crises  we  should  recognize  no  hideous  accident, 
but  the  signs  of  the  Advent  of  the  Divine  Human- 
ity, of  that  Son  of  God  Who  is  also  the  Son  of  Man. 


The  Season  of  Advent  29 

Sudden,  terrifying  judgment  on  whole  epochs 
and  whole  civilizations  is  a  recurrent  fact ;  and  a 
fact  which  the  Christian  should  prepare  for  and 
accept  without  aggrieved  surprise.  Catastrophe 
does  not  necessarily  mean  disaster,  and  tran- 
quillity is  not  necessarily  a  blessing.  The  lesson 
is  practical  and  pertinent;  for  we  are  passing 
through  an  Epoch  of  Judgment  today,  and  we 
Christians  shall  miss  its  meaning  if  we  resent  it 
or  try  to  suppress  or  hold  it  back,  clinging  to  our 
complacent  fallacies  about  Law  and  Order.  We 
are  not  permitted  to  condemn  a  Eussian  Eevolu- 
tion,  a  Great  War,  or  the  I.  W.  W.,  merely  because 
they  are,  on  the  surface,  destructive  and  disturb- 
ing ;  they  may  be  of  the  ordained  Signs  foretold. 

There  is  great  need  here  to  clarify  our  thought. 
Obviously,  Christians  must  do  all  in  their  power 
to  avert  disaster  by  the  energies  of  constructive 
justice,  and  by  the  release  of  sacrificial  love;  they 
must,  today,  use  every  moment  of  grace  granted 
them  in  this  manner.  And  it  is  certainly  not 
within  the  Christian  scope  to  endorse  methods  of 
violence  or  bloodshed,  far  less  to  promote  them.^ 
To  preserve  ancient  sanctities  is  part  of  religious 
duty;  St.  Paul's  respect  for  constituted  authority 
has  a  precious  element  in  it,  so  far  as  external 

*So   at  least   one   would   suppose,   if   all   through   history   the 
Church  had  not  encouraged  war,  for  causes  she  thought  just. 


30  Social  Teachings 

behaviour  goes,  and  the  non-resistant  factor  in 
Christian  ethic  is  indubitable. 

Two  points,  however,  must  be  noticed.  The 
first  is,  that  honest  Christians,  however  far  they 
be  from  aggressive  revolutionaries,  are  always 
getting  mixed  up  with  them:  the  apostles  are  ar- 
raigned as  the  men  who  turn  the  world  upside 
down,  and  their  Master  is  accused  as  one  who  stirs 
up  the  people;  the  misunderstanding  is  inherent 
in  the  situation,  and  will  always  persist.  And  the 
second  point  is  that  the  Christian,  while  he  neither 
endorses  nor  promotes  revolution,  will  not  hold 
the  conventional  attitude  toward  it  when  it  comes. 
He  knows  that  it  is  largely  the  index  to  his  own 
past  failure,  his  own  bitter  sin,  and  no  resentment 
can  stir  within  him  against  those  who  are  the  un- 
conscious instruments  of  the  Divine  Judgment. 
Moreover,  his  holy  faith  enables  him  to  recognize 
in  man's  failure,  God's  opportunity.  Holy  Writ 
and  historic  studies  combine  to  convince  him  that 
life  is  never  unbroken  peaceful  advance  onward 
and  upward.  Turmoil  and  upheaval,  war  and  rev- 
olution, are  a  part  of  the  Divine  Purpose.  *^  Dis- 
tress of  nations,  with  perplexity, — ^men's  hearts 
failing  them  for  fear,  and  for  looking  after  those 
things  which  are  coming  on  the  earth," — could 
there  be  a  more  exact  description  of  the  situation 


The  Season  of  Advent  31 

faced  today?  But  in  all  these  phenomena,  the  de- 
vout soul  may  be  called  to  see  the  promise  and 
precursors  of  the  Coming  of  the  Son  of  Man. 

And  if  once  we  accept  this  difficult  attitude,  an 
astonishing  thing  happens :  we  rise  to  a  new  level 
of  hope  and  joy.  Advent  is  a  penitential  sea- 
son, but  it  is  not  a  pessimistic  one.  The  Advent 
Scriptures,  rightly  read,  are  full  of  paradoxical 
exultation.  Horror  is  heaped  on  horror  in  those 
descriptions  of  coming  Doom  which  men  in  every 
world-upheaval, — never  more  than  now, — ^have 
read  with  awed  perception  of  their  accuracy.  What 
in  such  crises  is  the  attitude  enjoined  on  Christ's 
lovers  ?  Are  they  to  cower,  passive,  waiting  with 
submissive  dread  for  that  which  shall  befall? — 
No;  just  the  contrary:  *^Then  look  up,  and  lift 
up  your  heads;  for  your  redemption  draweth 
nigh." 

*^And  He  spake  to  them  a  parable:  Behold  the 
fig  tree,  and  all  the  trees  1:  when  they  now  shoot 
forth,  ye  see  and  know  of  your  own  selves  that 
summer  is  now  nigh  at  hand.  So  likewise  ye, 
when  ye  see  these  things  come  to  pass,  know  ye 
that  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  nigh  at  hand.''  ^  Did 
it  seem  strange  to  the  disciples, — ^this  likening  of 
distress,  perplexity  and  fear,  to  the  push  of  tender 

*From  the  Gospel  for  Advent  II. 


32  Social  Teachings 

leaves  in  Spring?  The  Master  knew  whereof  He 
spoke :  the  times  of  Judgment  are  the  Springtides 
of  the  world. 

The  spirit  with  which  we  anticipate  judgment, 
personal  or  national,  is  a  severe  test  of  character. 
Do  we  shiver  and  evade?  Or  do  we  really  want 
above  all  objects  of  desire  that  Truth  be  mani- 
fest, no  matter  how  cruel  and  relentless  the  mani- 
festation may  be  ?  If  the  purple  hangings  of  our 
Advent  betoken  a  real  penitence,  we  shall  welcome 
the  test  and  crave  the  coming  doom.  Today, 
such  welcome  is  in  the  air,  among  those  detached 
from  self-interest,  whose  hearts  are  set  in  the 
Eternal.  They  who  have  suffered  with  the  world's 
slow  hidden  pain,  consumed  with  anguish  over 
the  oppressions  and  corruptions  which  have 
poisoned  modern  life  at  the  root,  breathe  a  deep 
breath  of  relief  as  the  old  social  order  tottersj  to 
its  fall.  What  care  they  if  dividends  cease,  though 
to  their  personal  inconvenience  ?  What  if  it  should 
come  to  pass  that  private  profit  were  socialized, 
and  classes  merged  through  tumult  and  struggle, 
in  one  great  class  of  men  laboring  as  a  brother- 
hood? The  release  of  passion,  the  bitter  con- 
flicts, the  revelation  of  vicious  selfishness  in  oppo- 
site quarters, — these  are  harder  to  endure :  worse 
by  far  than  any  dislocation  in  outward  things-j 
But  even  here,  the  Christian,  grieving  as  he  must. 


The  Season  of  Advent  33 

can  give  thanks  that  evil  is  no  longer  suppressed, 
smoothed  over,  but  out  in  the  open,  where  love 
may  perhaps  reach  it  as  never  before.  He  can 
face  catastrophe  with  confidence,  because  below  all 
his  penitence  and  shame  is  faith  in  both  man  and 
God.  Judgment,  salvation, — the  terms  are  almost 
interchangeable  throughout  the  Advent  Scriptures. 
St.  Paul  says  an  amazing  thing  in  the  Epistle 
for  the  third  Sunday.  He  is  making  a  practical 
application  of  the  Master's  precept  and  permis- 
sion not  to  judge.  Judge  nothing  before  the  time, 
says  Paul, — advice  which  may,  incidentally  help 
us  not  to  be  doctrinaire  about  our  economic  judg- 
ments. Wait  until  the  Lord  comes.  He  will  make 
manifest  the  counsels  of  the  heart.  ^^And  then,'' 
— one  feels  that  one  can  hardly  have  read  the 
words  aright, — ^Hhen  shall  every  man  have  praise 
of  God."  Can  that  be  really  true?  When  hidden 
things  are  revealed,  shall  we  find  that  men  are  bet- 
ter than  we  knew?  Shall  each  and  all  deserve 
praise  from  the  Holy  God?  Perhaps  of  ^^the  self- 
same truth"  we  are  all  '^foeman  vassals."  What 
a  glorious  end  of  our  fierce  struggles  with  one 
another  in  the  darkness!  Welcome  Judgment  if 
such  is  to  be  the  result  of  it !  Optimism  could  no 
further  go. 

Judgment  then  must  be  accepted  by  Christians 


34  Social  Teachings 

as  an  abiding  principle.  They  must  prepare  for 
it  by  constant  watchfulness,  and  they  must  wel- 
come it  when  it  comes,  though  the  very  founda- 
tions of  their  social  life  be  shaken.  Can  we  go 
further  than  this?  Can  the  faithful  of  the  twen- 
tieth century  gain  any  good  from  the  older,  more 
literal  interpretation?  Are  we  moderns  still  able 
to  anticipate  judgment,  not  only  as  recurrent  man- 
ifestation of  law,  but  as  one  great  future  Event, 
the  goal  of  history? 

The  question  is  too  tremendous  for  humble  lay 
minds  to  approach  with  hope  of  dogmatic  solution. 
Apart  from  other  difficulties,  we  are  at  once  con- 
fronted, from  the  social  point  of  view,  by  the  fact 
that  belief  in  the  Second  Coming  has  usually  car- 
ried with  it  an  unsocial  fatalism.  It  has  encour- 
aged a  mystical  aloofness  from  earthly  life,  it 
has  cut  the  nerve  of  reform.  The  many  modern 
thinkers  who  frankly  call  Christian  ethic  impos- 
sible, like  to  point  out  that  it  was  conceived  as  a 
mere  ad  mterim  policy,  suitable  only  for  a  swiftly 
passing  world-order  which  would  hardly  survive 
one  generation.  Clever  debaters  enjoy  countering 
this  way  scornfully,  when  Christian  procedure  is 
urged  on  them;  and  devout  believers  have  often 
been  lured  by  similar  convictions  to  run  away, 
metaphorically  at  least,  into  monasteries,  and  to 
leave  the  poor  world  to  its  fate. 


The  Season  of  Advent  35 

We  do  not  want  to  identify  onrselves  with  either 
set  of  minds ;  yet  neither  do  we  want  to  dodge  the 
issue.  Jesns  told  us  to  pray,  * '  Thy  kingdom  come 
on  earth."  He  never  would  have  enjoined  on  us 
a  prayer  which  could  not  be  answered;  and  by 
very  law  of  holy  obedience,  we  are  bound  therefore 
to  believe  that  the  kingdom  will  come. 

The  Scriptural  treatment  of  the  Second  Advent 
is  of  course  entwined  with  that  millennial  hope  of 
the  Jews,  so  alien  to  modern  thought.  It  is  identi- 
fied with  a  Messianic  faith.  All  New  Testament 
writers  look  forward  to  the  Coming  of  the  Lord 
as  to  a  great  historic  event,  no  less  concrete  than 
His  birth.  Perspective  lengthens  as  the  years 
pass  between  the  earlier  and  the  later  books  of 
the  Canon ;  but  there  is  never  any  doubt  as  to  what 
the  end  will  be. 

Now  the  Messiah  is  to  most  people  today  a  con- 
ception which  has  ceased  to  interest;  and  those 
who  see  in  Jesus,  not  so  much  the  moral  teacher 
as  the  more  or  less  fanatical  heir  of  an  Apocalyp- 
tic tradition,  are  inclined  to  place  Him  among  the 
visionaries  whose  fallacies  have  misled  the  ages. 
Yet  the  Catholic  mind  can  not  dispense  with  either 
aspect  of  the  Lord's  Teaching.  We  have  no  right 
to  ignore  the  depth  and  cogency  of  Apocalyptic 
prophecy ;  far  less  can  we  ignore  the  clear  assur- 
ance of  all  New  Testament  writers  and  of  Jesus 


36  Social  Teachings 

Himself,  that  this  prophecy  shall  find  its  last  ful- 
filment in  His  Advent  to  judge  the  past  and  to 
initiate  a  mystic  future. 

Beyond  this  point,  Christian  thought  will  always 
diverge.  We  may  be  pre-Millenarians,  looking 
forward  to  a  cataclysm  in  the  middle  of  earth- 
history,  when  Christ  shall  return  and  summon  His 
saints — and  nobody  else — to  live  and  reign  on 
earth  a  thousand  years;  we  may  be  post-Mille- 
narians,  thinking  an  Advent  at  the  end  of  the  life 
of  this  planet  to  be  more  likely.  Discussion  be- 
tween the  pre-  and  post-Millenarians  is  going  on 
vigorously  today.  To  the  plain  Christian,  it 
usually  seems  that  the  pre-Millenarians  are  caught 
in  the  toils  of  materialistic  literalism,  while  the 
post-Millenarians  often  lose  any  sense  of  reality 
at  all.  But  of  course  both  schools  are  intent  on  the 
same  tremendous  fact,  which  their  discussions 
sometimes  obscure.  And  any  effective  belief  in 
this  fact  must  evoke  a  special  quality  in  the 
Christian's  feeling  and  behaviour.  To  be  in- 
fluenced in  one's  life,  either  outward  or  in- 
terior, by  an  indefinite  expectation,  however 
sure,  needs  imagination;  it  is  a  test,  and 
a  difficult  one.  But  people  who  possess  ^^the  sub- 
stance of  things  hoped  for"  ought  to  stand  that 
test.    The  man  who  really  believes  that  the  Love 


The  Season  of  Advent  37 

of  God,  revealed  in  the  Incarnate  Word,  is  to 
be  mightily  and  openly  manifest  in  history  as  the 
measure  by  which  the  race  shall  be  judged,  can  not 
feel  or  act  like  other  men. 

^^This  Advent  moon  shines  cold  and  clear, 

These  Advent  nights  are  long; 
Our  lamps  have  burned  year  after  year, 

And  still  their  flame  is  strong. 
'Watchman,  what  of  the  night T  we  cry, 

Heart-sick  with  hope  deferred : 
'No  speaking  signs  are  in  the  sky,' 

Is  still  the  watchman's  word. 

The  Porter  watches  at  the  gate. 

The  servants  watch  within ; 
The  watch  is  long  betimes  and  late, 

The  prize  is  slow  to  win. 
'Watchman,  what  of  the  night?'  but  still 

His  answer  sounds  the  same : 
'No  daybreak  tops  the  utmost  hill,' 

Nor  pale  our  lamps  of  flame. 

One  to  another  hear  them  speak, 

The  patient  virgins  wise : 
'  Surely  He  is  not  far  to  seek, — 

All  night  we  watch  and  rise. 


38  Social  Teachings 

The  days  are  evil  looking  back, 

The  coming  days  are  dim; 
Yet  comit  we  not  His  promise  slack, 

But  watch  and  wait  for  Him.'  '^  ^ 

Shall  this  watching  and  waiting  be  merely  pas- 
sive? Is  it  logical  that  the  more  vividly  people  im- 
age to  themselves  the  great  Coming,  the  less  inter- 
ested they  are  in  earthly  affairs?  A  real  tempta- 
tion lurks  here.  If  this  great  End  of  History!  is 
sure,  quite  apart  from  our  purposes  and  strug- 
gles, are  men  not  justified  in  their  other-worldli- 
ness,  in  their  cloisters? 

Not  in  the  least,  according  to  the  Scriptures. 
The  virgins  are  to  fill  their  lamps  with  oil  before 
they  slumber  and  sleep  in  death ;  the  servants  are 
to  work  hard  multiplying  their  talents,  the  labor- 
ers are  to  be  active  in  the  vineyard.  All  the  par- 
ables which  relate  to  the  Judgment  stress  activity 
in  a  perfectly  normal  way.  And  the  very  Millen- 
nial conception,  if  one  thinks  it  through,  carries 
with  it  a  tremendous  social  appeal. 

For  the  Millennium  was  the  Hebrew  and  Early 
Christian  Utopia,  and  it  is  therefore  not  out  of 
place  for  us  to  claim  Christian  sanction  for  a 
Utopian  hope.  We  shall  be  helped  to  find  the 
value  of  the  idea  in  proportion  as  we  import  real- 

^  Christina  Eossetti. 


The  Season  of  Advent  39 

ism  into  our  conception  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 
We  do  not  know  when  the  gradual  invisible  growth 
of  the  Kingdom,  illustrated  in  the  parables  of  the 
Leaven  and  the  Seed,  will  find  its  consummation 
in  the  flash  of  lightning  which  heralds  the  Coming 
of  the  Son  of  Man.  But  when  that  end  does  come, 
we  ought  to  be  ready  for  it.  The  best  way  to 
watch  is  to  prepare. 

If  there  is  really  to  be  a  better  and  holier  soci- 
ety, following  a  great  manifestation  of  the  Judg- 
ment of  God,  human  men  and  women  will  live 
in  it.  Therefore,  the  Church  ought  to  be  training 
her  children  now,  today  in  millennial  morals.  For 
it  is  never  the  Lord's  way  to  impose  His  laws 
on  a  passive  people;  His  whole  business  with  us 
is  to  train  us  to  self-government.  Paradise  is 
sure  to  be  democratic.  All  our  civic  intelligence, 
our  power,  still  embryonic,  to  act  harmoniously 
together,  our  practice  of  syndicalism,  Soviets,  or 
guild  socialism  if  you  will,  prepare  us  for  citizen- 
ship in  the  Heavenly  City.  There  will  be  no 
^* social  service,"  one  hopes,  in  that  happy  time, 
but  there  will  be  the  cooperative  commonwealth. 
Blessed  citizens  will  have  to  run  it,  and  those  who 
are  furthering  justice  and  welfare  now  will  be  the 
most  useful  people  then.  It  is  not  a  bad  test  of 
one's  occupations  to  ask  whether  one  could  go 
on  with  them  in  the  Kinordom  of  Heaven.    There 


40  Social  Teachings 

will  be  plenty  for  Hoover  to  do  in  that  heaven, — 
not  feeding  the  starving,  but  organizing  the  f ood- 
snpply  of  the  race ;  it  might  prove  harder  to  em- 
ploy the  barons  of  finance  unless  incentive  alters. 

And  of  Him  Who  said  that  He  was  coming 
back  in  His  glory,  with  all  His  holy  angels  with 
Him,  what  can  be  said?  Perhaps  few  Christian 
minds  today  dare  take  the  words  literally,  and 
a  frank  confession  of  uncertainty  is  the  most 
honest  course.  We  are  in  the  shadows  where  even 
the  humblest  orthodoxy  must  wait  patiently  for 
light. 

But  if  Christian  minds  are  uncertain,  Christian 
hearts  cling  to  that  hope  forever.  It  is  permissible 
to  be  a  little  hazy  about  the  Second  Advent.  No 
one  can  be  as  definite  about  the  future  as  about 
the  past,  and  Nazareth  must  be  clearer  to  the 
Christian  than  the  Day  of  Judgment.  But  we 
know  that  great  Persons  always  stand  at  the 
focal  points  of  history;  and  the  greatest  hour  that 
history  shall  ever  know  will  call  for  the  appear- 
ance of  One  supremely  great.  Who  can  it  be  save 
One  who  loves  to  the  uttermost,  and  who  can  re- 
veal to  men  the  eternal  sacrifice  of  God?  Only 
human  nature  can  judge  humanity;  yet  (expe- 
rience shows  the  paradox  to  be  essential)   the 


The  Season  of  Advent  41 

human  nature  must  possess  absolute  holiness,  in- 
finite wisdom. 

We  abide  then,  watching  with  passionate  sober 
expectation  for  the  Coming  of  that  Love  which 
man  has  crucified,  to  judge  the  race  of  man.  In 
the  courage  of  that  expectation,  our  temper  grows 
heroic.  We  face  the  future,  released  from  con- 
vention or  timidity ;  we  welcome  with  no  surprise, 
even  with  awe-struck  joy,  those  historic  upheavals 
which  are  the  normal  Sign  of  His  approach.  The 
man  who  is  disciplined  in  the  Blessed  Hope  of 
Advent  may  not  be  fatalist,  may  not  be  despond- 
ent. His  happy  heart  is  set  to  the  music  of  the 
last  canonical  prayer  of  the  Church:  *^Even  so 
come,  Lord  Jesus. ' '  And  through  whatever  tragic 
anguish  our  piteous  race  may  pass,  he  clings  to 
the  magnificent  incontrovertible  words  of  the 
Apostle :  ' '  Now  is  our  salvation  nearer  than  when 
we  believed." 

^^The  world  about  us,  with  its  lawlessness,  its 
disunions,  its  jarrings,  seems  sometimes  as  if  it 
could  attain  to  no  great  end ;  like  a  restless  sea  of 
many  waters,  aimless,  barren,  unprogressive. 
But  there  is  purpose  in  it.  The  tossing  sea  we 
shall  behold  one  day  with  the  fires  of  the  Divine 
Judgment,  as  St.  John  beheld  it,  ^a  sea  of  glass 
mingled  with  fire, '  and  beyond  the  judgment  again, 


42  Social  Teachings 

as  the  sea  of  glass  clear  as  crystal  which  mirrors 
in  its  calm  surface  the  throne  of  God  before  which 
it  is  spread.  ^For  though  the  waves  toss  them- 
selves they  shall  not  prevail.'  All  things  move 
on  to  the  Divine  Event.  The  nations  of  the  earth 
shall  bring  their  glory  and  their  honour  into  it. 
All  things  in  heaven  and  earth  shall  bow  and  adore 
Jesus,  the  heir  of  the  whole  world's  movement 
and  fruitfulness."  ^ 

We  proceed  on  our  journey, — ^but  we  do  not 
leave  the  Advent  message  behind.  The  method  of 
the  Church  is  as  human  as  it  is  profound.  Each 
new  truth  is  remembered  faithfully  during  all 
sequences  to  come,  invigorates  its  successors,  and 
blends  with  them  harmoniously  in  the  diapason 
which  shall  close  only  in  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 
The  note  of  Change,  the  note  of  the  Kingdom,  the 
note  of  Judgment, — they  will  be  found  persistent, 
recurrent,  interpenetrating  the  Christian  con- 
sciousness more  and  more  as  other  truths  develop 
to  bear  them  company.  Through  the  star-light  of 
Christmas,  through  the  dawn  of  Easter,  through 
the  noon-tide  glory  of  Ascension,  through  the 
flame  of  Pentecost,  flashes  the  same  summons: 
'* Behold,  thy  King  cometh  unto  thee;"  '^Lift  up 
your  heads ;  for  your  redemption  draweth  nigh. ' ' 

*  Bishop  Gore:   The  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  p.  153. 


CHAPTER  II:  CHEISTMAS-TIDE 

Antiphon:  That  was  the  true  Light, 
which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into 
the  world. 

V.  Glory  to  God  in  the  Highest, 

R.  And  on  earth  peace. 

0  God,  Who  makest  us  glad  with  the 
yearly  remembrance  of  the  birth  of  Thine 
only  Son  Jesus  Christ;  Grant  that  as  we 
joyfully  receive  Him  for  our  Redeemer,  so 
we  may  with  sure  confidence  behold  Him 
when  He  shall  come  to  be  our  Judge,  Who 
liveth  and  reigneth  with  Thee  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  one  God,  world  without  end. 

Amen. 


CHAPTER  II:  CHEISTMAS-TIDE 

WHAT  deep  tenderness  in  the  sequence  by 
which  Mother  Church,  having  disciplined 
us  in  awe  and  pentitential  hope,  now  leads  to  the 
Manger  where  Mary  bends  over  the  new-bom 
Babe! 

^'Grod  Who  shinest  from  the  Maid, 
Have  mercy  upon  us ! " 

The  God  for  Whose  Coming  in  judgment  we 
have  been  at  watch  in  dread  and  in  desire,  is  no 
stranger.  Flesh  of  our  flesh,  soul  of  our  soul,  help- 
less in  babyhood.  He  holds  out  beseeching  arms  to 
Humanity  His  Mother,  asking  that  we  who  have 
brought  Him  to  the  birth,  should  nourish  and 
cherish  Him.  Dependent  on  us, — oh,  mystic 
thought ! — ^f or  the  power  to  fulfil  His  purpose  and 
to  make  us  whole,  He  seeks  our  nurturing  love 
that  it  may  bring  Him  to  the  fullness  of  His 
Manhood : 

^'From  the  remembering  flesh  that  in  it  bore 
The   thoughts    of    old    dead   peoples    and   their 
dreams, 

I  made  Thee,  0  Lord. 

45 


46  Social  Teachings 

From  the  flesh  of  the  fool  that  laughing  in  his 

heart 
Cried  with  an  empty  voice,  There  is  no  God, 
I  made  Thee,  0  Lord. 

From  our  desire  and  from  our  mortal  need, 
From  the  prayer  we  raise  and  our  delight  in  Thee, 

I  created  Thee,  God. 
And  perished  races,  rising  up  in  me, 
Fashioned  Thee  wildly  of  my  little  dust. 
And  breathed  upon  Thy  Face  the  image  of  man. 

I  created  Thee,  God.''^ 

Deity  self -subjected  to  our  mortal  nature!  One 
dare  not  try  to  fathom  the  mystery.  Even  its 
social  implications  are  to  be  discerned  only  from 
the  posture  of  prayer. 

But  the  first  concern  of  the  Church  at  this  her 
Festival  is  to  hold  clear  before  her  children's 
minds  the  whole  process  of  experience  on  which 
they  have  entered.  Therefore,  the  beautiful  Col- 
lect for  the  first  Christmas  Communion,  from  the 
Mass  of  the  Christmas  vigil,  binds  into  unity  the 
two  seemingly  so  disparate  Comings  of  God  to 
man. 

In  the  Prayer-Book  of  1549,  provision  was  made 
for  two  Communions  at  Christmas;  and  the  In- 

*Aiina  Hempstead  Branch  The  Madonna  of  the  Earth.' 


Christmas-Tide  47 

troit  for  the  first  Coamnunion  was  Psalm  98,  ^^0 
sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song."  The  exultant 
end  of  the  psalm  is  as  all  remember,  the  prophecy 
of  judgment  fulfilled  in  justice : 

^'Let  the  floods  clap  their  hands  and  let  the  hills 
be  joyful  together  before  the  Lord;  for  He  is 
come  to  judge  the  earth.  With  righteousness 
shall  He  judge  the  world  and  the  people  with 
equity.'^ 

The  Epistle,  a  somewhat  unfamiliar  passage 
from  Titus,  strikes  the  same  note.  It  really  in- 
volves the  whole  Christian  revelation:  Incarna- 
tion, Atoneiment,  and  the  active  life  of  the  Church, 
that  is  of  the  '^peculiar  people,  zealous  of  good 
works."  But  the  chief  point  made  is  that  even  in 
the  moment  of  fulfilment,  when  we  hail  salvation 
manifest,  we  are  to  remain  expectant,  ^  booking 
for  that  blessed  hope,  and  the  glorious  appearing 
of  the  Great  God,  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 

So  delicately,  so  carefully,  does  Mother  Church 
make  her  transition.  The  link  between  Christmas 
and  Advent  thus  strongly  forged,  we  turn,  still 
at  the  first  Communion,  to  the  Gospel  of  the 
Nativity :  the  idyll  of  the  ages,  the  poem  of  poems, 
where  visionary  glory  blends  most  perfectly  with 
human  tenderness,  and  heaven  and  earth  are  one. 

And  the  story  begins  in  a  very  literal  manner. 
The  historic  background  is  defined:  the  Eoman 


48  Social  Teachings 

rule,  a  Caesar  on  the  throne,  the  date  fixed  by  a 
certain  Cyrenins,  Governor  of  Syria.  And  the 
reference  to  a  census,  of  all  things!  Economic 
determinism  if  you  please, — the  materialistic  in- 
terpretation of  history, — a  sordid  fiscal  phenome- 
non deciding  to  all  outward  seeming  the  birth- 
place of  the  world's  Eedeemer!  Yet,  prosaic 
though  the  opening  and  setting  be,  the  tale  itself 
in  its  divine  simplicity  is  justly  the  heart  of  Chris- 
tian song  and  art  and  worship.  What,  sentence 
by  sentence,  it  means  to  the  spirit,  the  faithful 
ponder  in  silence.  The  passage  opens  with  de- 
crees and  taxes  in  an  obscure  subject  province ;  it 
ends  with  the  good  tidings  of  a  universal  joy,  with 
the  angelic  song  announcing  peace  on  earth  to  all 
men  of  good  will.  We  are  in  the  sphere  of  time 
and  history ;  but  the  history  has  its  inception  in 
the  secrets  of  eternity,  and  time  is  invaded  by 
mysterious  beauty  from  a  world  beyond  its  meas- 
urement. 

So  run  the  Scriptures  appointed  for  the  first 
Christmas  Communion.  Those  for  the  second,  the 
great  Festal  Eucharist,  are  quite  different.  The 
thought  of  judgment  to  come  is  ignored,  neither 
have  we  any  narrative  of  the  Holy  Birth  in 
Judaea.  Eather,  we  are  transported  wholly  be- 
hind history  and  out  of  time.  The  Epistle,  from 
the  first  chapter  of  Hebrews,  lifts  us  to  contem- 


Christmas-Tide  49 

plation  of  the  Eternal  Sonship,  wherein  are  ful- 
filled the  most  mystical  ideals  of  the  Jewish  mind. 
The  supreme  Gospel,  opening  of  the  Gospel  ac- 
cording to  St.  'John,  final  resultant  of  the  con- 
fluence of  Hebrew  emotion  and  of  Greek  phi- 
losophy, invites  us  to  the  contemplation  of  the 
Eternal  Word,  that  was  with  God  and  was  God. 
And  as  the  worshippers  kneel  at  the  glorious  con- 
summation: ^^The  Word  was  made  Flesh  and 
dwelt  among  us,"  faith  in  the  Incarnation,  basis 
of  all  social  hope,  as  of  all  personal  salvation,  is 
perfected  within  their  hearts. 

Whether  we  contemplate  God  Incarnate  as  the 
Word  or  as  the  Babe,  one  central  fact  is  clear. 
Truth  is  not  remote  from  us,  not  alien,  not  lost 
to  human  sight  in  an  Eternal  Absolute;  it  is  no 
less  our  Child  than  our  Saviour.  So  Newman 
points  out  in  the  Apologia  the  special  teaching 
implied  in  the  concept  of  the  Madonna, — ^the 
Truth  *^  lying  hid  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church  as  if 
one  with  her,  clinging  to  and  as  it  were  lost  in  her 
embrace."  For  *' Church"  substitute  *^ Human- 
ity" and  we  have  here  recognition  of  the  fact 
which  modern  philosophers  and  popular  writers, — 
a  Bergson,  a  Wells, — are  heralded  abroad  for  dis- 
covering ;  and  like  all  sound  human  thinking  about 
God,  it  has  long  been  familiar  to  the  Catholic 


50  Social  Teachings 

mind.  That  mind  has  probably  often  entertained 
wrong  ideas ;  but  it  has  missed  no  vital  idea,  es- 
sential for  full  religious  living.  This  evolving 
God,  this  God  "Whom  man  creates,  "Who  waits  on 
man  for  the  full  release  of  His  power,  this  God 
to  Whom  our  attitude  may  be  not  only  filial  but 
maternal,  is  in  very  truth  the  Second  Person  of 
the  Ever-Blessed  Trinity. 

The  Infinite  woos  us  from  every  side,  ap- 
proaches us  by  every  avenue  of  our  complex  na- 
ture. God  above  us.  Creator,  Monarch,  Father, 
does  not  suffice  our  need :  God  within  us.  Comfort, 
Inspiration,  Sustainer,  leaves  us  still  unsatisfied. 
To  fulfil  our  desire.  Infinite  Love  must  yield  it- 
self utterly  to  our  care,  be  dependent  on  us  for 
shelter  and  nurture,  be  in  awesome  fact  the  Son 
of  Man. 

This  aspect  of  reality  is  peculiarly  evident  to- 
day, and  peculiarly  appealing.  Stark  and  ruthless 
experience  presses  home  to  thousands  of  hearts 
the  old  cruel  dilemma  between  a  callous  and  an 
impotent  God.  In  this  storm-racked  world,  it 
becomes  no  alternative  to  be  considered  in  the 
calm  of  theologic  studies,  but  a  terrible  choice  to 
be  made  under  fierce  and  open  skies  which  look 
down  brazenly  on  human  anguish.  And  the  im- 
perious craving  for  a  vision  of  the  Eternal  which 
every  great  moment  of  history  lays  bare,  finds 


Christmas-Tide  51 

with  many  its  best  satisfaction  in  clinging  to  a 
Great  Comrade  Who  was  thwarted  like  us,  Who 
is  ever  crucified  with  His  own,  helpless  in  large 
measure  yet  all  the  dearer  for  that  helplessness. 
Such  thinking  could  of  course  be  final  to  no  Chris- 
tians; but  it  is  true,  though  partial;  and  Chris- 
tians may  find  their  best  comfort,  by  the  Manger 
or  the  Cross,  in  contemplating  the  Absolute  in 
process  of  becoming,  the  voluntary  limitations  of 
Omnipotence.^ 

And  in  such  contemplation  there  is  solemn  in- 
centive and  sununons.  For  if  such  be  the  law 
of  the  Manifestation  of  God  in  history,  what  re- 

*The  thought  in  the  text  is  strikingly  illustrated  by  a  passage 
from  a  modern  philosopher: 

*^  Plato  and  Aristotle  represented  God  as  that  absolute  Good 
which,  unmoving  and  changeless  in  Itself,  the  soul  pursues  and 
longs  for.  To  Christianity,  it  is  the  soul  that  is  pursued,  and 
God  is  forever  restless,  in  quest  of  what  to  him  is  lost.  The 
God  of  the  Christian  is  one  who  invades  the  earth  in  order  to 
bring  men  to  themselves:  to  every  soul  of  man,  he  *  stands  at  the 
door  and  knocks.'  He  does  not  forego  the  power  of  silent  at- 
traction found  in  the  non-assertive  Tao  of  Lao-Tze,  or  in  Brahm, 
or  in  the  Unmoved  Mover  of  the  Greeks;  but  it  is  as  one  who  has 
known  finitude,  and  is  'lifted  up  from  the  earth,'  that  he  will 
draw  all  men  unto  him.  He  disguises  himself,  takes  the  form  of 
a  servant;  ho  comes  to  his  own  and  his  own  know  him  not;  he  is 
despised  and  rejected  and  done  to  death.  And  all  this  is  the  foil 
and  background  of  his  great  joy.  For  he  has  his  moment  when 
to  some  mind  more  honest  than  usual  to  its  own  need,  there  comes 
a  presentiment  of  recognition,  and  the  awed  question,  ''Who  art 
thou.  Lord?'' — to  which  he  answers,  "I  am  he  whom  thou  perse- 
cutest."  .  .  . 

' '  If  God  exists  as  a  good  vdll,  that  will  must  do  its  work  in  the 
world  of  time  and  event  as  a  will  to  power  not  wholly  unlike  our 
own,  and  so  coming  to  itself,  as  we  must,  through  the  saving  of 
others.  Christianity  is  right  in  holding  that  such  a  God  if  he 
exists  must  somehow  appear  in  the  temporal  order.    And  it  seems 


52  Social  Teachings 

sponsibility  is  ours  whose  high  office  it  is,  like  the 
Virgin  Mother,  to  bring  forever  to  the  birth  the 
Saviour  of  the  world! 

In  the  message  of  Christmas,  mystical  and  social 
truth  are  one.  This  very  day,  as  we  talk  of  a 
^^new  social  order,"  the  Christ-child  calls  for  our 
mothering.  The  spiritual  ideal,  which  comes  from 
Above,  is  sojourning  indeed  among  men,  but  in 
what  trembling  infancy!  Shame  is  attendant  on 
its  coming  .  .  .  (Do  we  think  enough  of  what  was 
involved  to  Mary  in  her  '^Ecce  Ancilla  Domini,'' 
of  Joseph's  distress,  which  deserved  angelic  com- 
forting?) :  there  is  a  stigma  on  the  Truth.  It  is 
not  born  among  the  rich  of  the  earth,  but  among 
the  lowly;  it  is  denied  our  habitations,  and  waits 
outside,  uncertain  of  our  fostering.  We  may  not 
go  our  careless  way,  thinking  that  God  is  strong 
enough  to  take  care  of  HimseK.  He  has  chosen 
to  be  weak,  to  be  a  babe  in  our  arms.  Whom  if 
we  will  we  may  dash  against  the  stones.  Alas! 
like  the  Old  Masters  who  always  introduced  the 

to  me  that  it  is  also  right  in  saying  that  he  must  suffer,  and  not 
alone  with  us  (as  any  god  must  who  knows  what  is  going  on),  but 
also  for  us  and  at  our  hands.  ...  It  is  such  a  god,  active  in  his- 
tory and  suffering  there,  that  Christianity  declares  as  the  most 
important  fact  about  the  world  we  live  in. 

*'To  believe  in  such  a  god  would  give  history  a  meaning  over 
and  above  any  experimental  meaning  it  may  have:  it  would  have 
to  be  read  as  the  drama  of  God^s  life,  his  making  and  remaking 
of  men.'' — Human  Nature  and  Its  Remaking.  W.  Ernest 
Hocking.     Yale  University  Press,  1918. 


Christmas-Tide  53 

symbols  of  the  Passion  into  their  sweetest  Nativi- 
ties, we  must  at  Bethlehem  remember  Calvary. 

So  we  worship  the  Divine,  not  withdrawn  into 
its  own  purity,  but  identifying  itself  with  an  un- 
folding life  within  the  natural  order  of  history. 
And  that  fair  and  holy  light  of  God  shining  from 
the  Maid,  quickens  and  illumines  all  our  social  ef- 
forts. Behold,  the  Tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men. 
Housing  reform,  sanitation,  dietetics  and  the  like, 
are  all  sanctified  by  the  Incarnation.  A  false  spir- 
ituality often  laments  that  the  Churches  turn  to 
such  matters ;  and  indeed  they  are  pernicious  eva- 
sions of  the  essential  truth,  evidences  of  our  mate- 
rialistic age,  if  taken  for  a  moment  as  ends  in 
themselves.  But  to  the  true  Christian,  they  are 
triumphant  assertions  of  his  faith  in  the  Word 
made  Flesh.  Two  forms  of  faithlessness  are 
equally  dangerous.  One  rests  in  natural  good  as 
a  finality,  the  other  dreads  or  despises  it,  drawn  to 
the  ever-barren  quest  for  discarnate  Spirit.  Only 
the  Catholic  faith  escapes  these  evils.  Indiffer- 
ence to  earthly  life  and  satisfaction  in  it  are  alike 
denied  to  him  who  kneels  before  the  Babe.  To 
him,  the  world  of  sense  is  neither  illusion  nor 
enemy;  but  still  less  is  it  his  object.  It  is  the  sac- 
ramental instrument  of  the  Spirit,  and  he  would 
fain  ensure  its  health  and  purity  with  as  anxious 
care  as  men  show  in  preparation  of  the  Eucharis- 


54  Social  Teachings 

tic  Host.  All  those  labors,  which  seek  for  the  race 
a  healthful  and  decent  physical  existence,  are 
preparations  that  men  may  be  bom  from  above ;  it 
is  our  high  privilege  to  make  the  social  organism 
a  fit  home  for  the  Indwelling  God. 

It  is  good  to  dwell  on  the  Joyful  Mysteries  of 
the  Gospels,  and  it  is  happiness  to  linger  with  the 
dear  associations  which  surround  the  childhood 
of  the  Lord. 

Why  did  He  not  come  as  a  Prince,  whose  dra- 
matic laying  aside  of  kingly  rank  and  pomp  might 
afford  a  noble  object  lesson?  Such  is  the  opening 
of  the  story  of  the  Buddha,  and  no  one  can  read 
the  lovely  tale  without  emotion.  A  similar  image 
is  not  denied  to  the  Christian :  he  has  but  to  send 
his  worshipping  imagination  back  into  eternity : 

''Thou  didst  leave  Thy  throne  and  Thy  kingly 
crown 
When  Thou  camest  on  earth  for  me^' — 

Precious  are  such  thoughts,  but  precious  also  to 
the  Christian  heart  the  symbols  of  which  it  never 
wearies :  the  Cave,  the  shepherds,  and  the  friendly 
beasts,  the  homelessness  of  the  Divine  Babe,  the 
brooding  mother.  Here  is  the  Treasure  of  the 
Humble.    Throughout  Christian  history,  the  poor 


Christmas-Tide  55 

and  lowly  have  found  at  the  Manger  the  sweet 
revenge  of  secret  laughter  over  the  solemn  pre- 
tensions of  earth's  mighty  ones.  Here  they  echo 
in  murmured  undertones  which  are  never  silenced, 
the  amazing  song  which  gives  us  our  chief  insight 
into  the  heart  and  mind  of  Mary  the  Hebrew 
woman : 

^*He  hath  put  down  the  mighty  from  their  seat 
and  hath  exalted  the  humble  and  meek.  He  hath 
scattered  the  proud  in  the  imagination  of  their 
hearts.  He  hath  filled  the  hungry  with  good  things 
and  the  rich  He  hath  sent  empty  away." 

Old  Langland  puts  it  well  in  his  fourteenth  cen- 
tury vision  of  the  Workman  Christ, — the  Plough- 
man who  is  to  him  the  symbol  and  representative 
of  the  Eedeemer : — 

*'To  pastours  and  to  poets  appeared  that  angel, 
And  bade  them  go  to  Bethlehem,  God's  birth  to 

honour. 
And  sung  a  song  of  solace,  Gloria  in  Excelsis  Deo. 
Eich  men  (slept)  then  and  in  their  rest  were, 
Tho   it   shone   to   the    shepherds,    a    shewer   of 

bliss."  1 

*  Langland:  The  Vision  of  William  Concerning  Piers  the 
Plowman.     Ed  Skeat.    Passus  xii,  B.  1.  150-153. 


56  Social  Teachings 

It  is  especially  touching  to  penetrate  tne  hidden 
mind  of  the  middle  ages,  that  most  aristocratic 
of  periods.  The  Church  shared  the  delight  of  the 
time  in  haughty  external  magnificence;  and  pic- 
tures rise  before  us  of  sacerdotal  pomp,  of  arro- 
gant prelates  maintaining  feudal  state,  of  a  Papal 
foot  on  an  imperial  neck.  Yet  the  more  one 
studies  the  suppressed  emotions  of  the  age  and 
the  strong  undercurrents,  the  greater  ferment  of 
radical  and  democratic  thought  one  discovers. 
It  is  largely  generated  by  the  Gospel  story.  St. 
Francis  sits  him  down  on  the  bare  ground,  weep- 
ing, as  one  of  his  brothers  breaks  into  meditation 
on  the  hardships  of  the  Saviour's  birth.  In  the 
overt  dignity  of  mosaic,  fresco  or  sculpture,  men 
might  depict  the  Christ  as  King  or  Judge ;  within 
their  private  hearts  they  cherished  another  image, 
the  image  of  the  Workman,  the  lover  of  men,  a 
wanderer  from  His  birth,  not  knowing  where  to 
lay  His  head.    As  Langland  writes  again: 

**For  our  joy  and  our  heal  Jesus  Christ  of  Heaven 
In  a  poor  man's  apparel  pursueth  us  ever, 
And  looketh  on  us  in  their  likeness,  and  that  with 
lovely  cheer.'' ^ 

A    quaint    fourteenth    century    homily    strikes 
gently  and  tenderly  the  same  note : — 

*  Ditto.     Passus  xi,  B.  1.  179-181. 


Christmas-Tide  57 

'^Now  dere  friend  before  matins  sail  thou 
thynke  of  the  swete  birthe  of  Jesus  Christ  alther 
first.  The  tyme  was  in  mid-wynnter  when  it  was 
maste  cald,  the  hour  was  at  mydnight,  the  hard- 
este  hour  that  is,  the  stede  was  in  mydwarde  the 
streete,  and  in  house  withouten  walles.  In  clouts 
was  He  bounden  and  in  a  crib  before  an  oxe  and 
asse  that  lufely  Lord  was  laid,  for  there  was  no 
other  stede  voyde.  Thou  sail  thynke  also  of  the 
herdes  that  saw  the  token  of  His  birthe,  and  thou 
sail  thynke  of  the  swete  f  ellawschip  of  angels,  and 
rayse  uppe  thy  herte  and  synge  with  them,  Gloria 
in  excelsis  Deo./'  ^ 

In  the  miracle-plays,  the  ** movies''  of  the  mid- 
dle ages  if  an  irreverent  comparison  be  permitted, 
the  Holy  Drama  is  triumphantly  and  audaciously 
brought  within  the  mental  compass  of  plain  folk; 
and  the  results  are  often  as  charming  as  they  are 
absurd.  The  treatment  afforded  far  more  than 
a  chance  for  buffoonery ;  it  sprang  from  the  deep 
instinct  to  consecrate  the  roughest  realities  of 
working-class  life,  by  the  Presence  of  God  sojourn- 
ing with  men.  Therefore  the  shepherds  shiver 
and  grumble  in  their  own  distinctive  dialect  on 
English  moors : — 

*The  Mirror  of  St.  Edmund.  C.  Horstman.  Richard  Eolle 
of  HampoUe  I,  235.    Swan  Sonnenschein,  1895. 


58  Social  Teachings 

**I  Pastor: 
Lord,  what !  these  weders  are  cold !    And  I  am  ill- 
happed  ; 
I  am  nere-hand  dold,  so  long  have  I  napped; 
My  legys  thay  fold,  my  fyngers  ar  chapped.  .  .  . 

But  we  sely  shepardes  that  walkys  on  the  moore, 
In  f ayth,  we  are  nere-handys  out  of  the  doore ; 
No  wonder,  as  it  standys,  if  we  be  poore. 
For  the  tilth  of  our  landys  lies  fallow  as  the  floor 

As  ye  ken. 
We  are  so  hamyd, 
For-taxed  and  ramyd 
We  are  made  hand-tamed 

With  these  gentlery  men."  ^ 

The  angelic  message  floats  through  bleak  British 
skies,  interrupting  the  most  realistic  of  horseplay. 
Sometimes,  the  shepherds  squabble  over  the  words 
of  the  ditty: 

''Nay,  it  was  glory,  glory  with  a  glo, 
And  much  of  Celsis  was  thereto.'' 

But,  reconciled,  they  seek  the  Manger,  where  the 
art  of  Hogarth  yields  to  that  of  Fra  Angelico,  and 
the  poets  lavish  all  their  lyric  tenderness.    They 

*Towiieley  Plays.     Secundus  Pastorum. 


Christmas-Tide  59 

worship  their  ''lytell  Daystame"  with  appropri- 
ate gifts;  now  a  bob  of  cherries  or  a  spoon  that 
will  hold  forty  pease,  now  two  cobb-nuts  on  a 
ribbon  or  a  brooch  with  a  tin  bell.  Always  there 
is  the  same  simplicity,  the  same  half-sly,  half- 
defiant  insistence  that  the  first  welcome  to  the 
Blessed  One  came  from  homely  working-folk.  The 
Pageant  of  the  Magi  follows  that  of  the  Shep- 
herds, but  it  has  not  half  the  charm. 

*^The  Vision  of  Christ  which  thou  dost  see 
Is  my  Vision's  greatest  enemy."  ^ 

So  William  Blake  was  to  write,  hundreds  of 
years  after  the  miracle-plays.  The  hieratic  and 
monarchical  instincts  of  the  middle  ages  trans- 
formed the  image  of  the  Carpenter  of  Nazareth 
for  the  most  part  to  their  own  likeness :  but  they 
never  quite  managed  to  get  possession  of  the 
Baby. 

All  pastorals  find  their  consecration  in  the  ex- 
quisite idyll  of  the  Nativity  night;  and  through- 
out English  letters,  the  graceful  play  of  classic 
suggestion  gains  again  and  again  a  deeper, 
sweeter  note,  from  the  memory  of  those  Hebrew 
shepherds  to  whom  the  skies  were  musical  with 
holy  song.    But  more  than  pastoral  feeling  centres 

*  Blake:  The  Everlasting  Gospel. 


6o  Social  Teachings 

here.  Kneeling  at  the  Manger,  we  are  present  at 
the  inception  of  the  blessed  associations  with 
normal  labor,  normal  life,  and  primal  emotion, 
which  pervade  the  Gospels.  The  Christian  love 
for  children,  the  Christian  reverence  for  the  fam- 
ily, as  well  as  the  Christian  tenderness  toward 
poverty, — ^here  all  these  precious  instincts  are 
born ;  to  this  shelter,  when  buffeted  by  the  world, 
they  can  always  return. 

The  literal,  simple  meaning  of  the  narrative  is 
the  best  and  most  important.  But  beyond  or 
within  this  meaning,  the  Christian  imagination 
has  always  loved  to  play  with  parables :  — 

^'Wird     Christus     tausendmal     zu     Bethlehem 

geboren, 
Und  nicht  in  dir:   du  bleibst  noch  ewiglich  ver- 

loren."  ^ 

So  we  may  see  in  the  shepherds  the  lowly  motions 
of  the  heart,  in  the  angels  the  winged  powers  of 
the  soul,  in  the  wise  men  the  gifts  of  the  intel- 
lect,— all  gathered  in  love  and  worship  at  the 
House  of  the  Babe.  Harmonious  images,  sug- 
gesting the  full  loveliness  of  redeemed  human  life, 
centred  in  adoration  of  Eternal  Love.  But  there 
are  shadows  in  the  picture.     Herod  is  not  far 

*Angelus  Silesius. 


Christmas-Tide  6i 

away.  Nor  should  we  wish  to  discover  within  us 
the  host  who  turned  the  Mother  from  the  inn. 
Very  likely  he  was  not  a  bad  man,  that  host.  One 
fancies  the  crowds,  hurrying  at  the  law's  behest 
to  sign  their  income  tax  returns,  so  to  speak,  in 
their  home  town :  the  busy  hour,  the  worried  man, 
the  casual  irresponsible  negative  to  a  difficult  ap- 
peal. He  Who  at  the  Last  Day  shall  say,  ^'Unto 
the  least  of  these,''  warns  us,  when  we  fail  to  house 
the  homeless,  be  it  by  private  hospitality  or  by  cor- 
porate care,  Whom  it  is  we  leave  unsheltered : — 

'*  Whether  my  house  is  dark  or  bright, 
I  close  it  not  on  any  night, 
Lest  Thou,  hereafter  King  of  stars, 
Against  me  close  Thy  heavenly  bars. 

''If  from  a  guest  who  shares  thy  board, 
Thy  dearest  dainty  thou  shalt  hoard, 
'Tis  not  that  guest,  oh,  do  not  doubt, 
But  Mary's  Son  shall  do  without."  ^ 

Society,  all  too  often,  it  is  to  be  feared,  plays  the 
part  of  the  host. 

The  Feasts  which  cluster  around  Christmas 
were  appointed  at  different  times.    That  of  St. 

*  Collection  of  Irish  verse. 


62  Social  Teachings 

Stephen  dates  as  far  back  as  the  fourth  century, 
that  of  St.  John  is  first  mentioned  in  the  Mozarabic 
missal  of  the  sixth;  it  is  uncertain  when  the 
formal  commemoration  of  the  Holy  Innocents  be- 
gan, though  Origen  says  that  their  Memorial  was 
celebrated  in  Churches  after  the  manner  or  order 
of  the  saints.  By  the  twelfth  century,  St.  Bernard 
mentions  the  three  as  one  connected  commemo- 
ration following  Christmas.  And  they  belong  there 
quite  beautifully,  for  they  recall  the  three  aspects 
of  the  Lord  of  Glory  so  far  stressed  by  the  Church 
Year:  Christ  the  Son  of  God,  High  Priest  and 
Intercessor ;  Christ  the  Eternal  Word,  Christ  the 
Babe  of  Bethlehem. 

We  recall  the  first  Christmas  Epistle  from  He- 
brews, as  we  read  the  vision  of  the  protomartyr ; 
for  it  is  the  Son  *  *  Whom  He  hath  appointed  heir  of 
all  things,  by  Whom  also  He  made  the  worlds," 
Whom  Stephen  sees  '  ^  standing  on  the  right  hand 
of  God."  The  Feast  of  St.  John,  he  who  is  in  full- 
est sense  evangelist  of  the  Incarnation,  could  be 
placed  nowhere  except  by  the  Manger;  the 
Epistle  for  the  day  echoes  the  great  Prologue 
associated  with  John's  name,  which  is  the  central 
light  of  our  Christian  devotions ;  in  its  reiterated 
stress  on  the  contact  of  hands  and  ears  and  eyes 
with  the  very  Word  of  Life,  it  links  the  thought 
of  the  mystical  and  of  the  historic  Christ  together. 


Christmas-Tide  63 

As  for  the  Holy  Innocents,  they  bring  us  back 
into  history  again.  Patrons  of  all  child-sufferers, 
they  are  always  thought  of  near  the  Christ-Child, 
for  whom  unconsciously  they  died,  and  whom, 
according  to  a  sweet  old  legend,  their  little  mar- 
tyred spirits  guard  on  the  Flight  into  Egypt. 
Nothing  could  illustrate  better  than  the  position 
of  these  Feasts  the  wise  instinct  of  the  Church, 
and  the  remarkable  suggestiveness  for  devout 
hearts  of  her  seemingly  most  fortuitous  se- 
quences. 

And  when  the  Feasts  are  over,  the  Scriptures 
for  the  first  Sunday  after  Christmas  and  for  the 
Circumcision  complete  the  golden  ring  in  which 
they  are  enclosed,  by  bringing  us  back  to  the  Man- 
ger. St.  Joseph,  who  has  no  special  Feast-Day  in 
our  Communion,  certainly  has  as  much  right  to 
be  there  as  St.  Stephen  or  the  Innocents,  and  it  is 
well  for  us  to  hear  how  to  that  *'just  man"  is 
given  the  privilege  of  announcing  the  name  of 
the  Saviour.  It  is  after  the  first  touch  of  human 
pain,  as  the  Circumcision  Gospel  tells,  that  the 
Name  is  finally  bestowed.  Meanwhile,  the  two 
Epistles,  as  is  their  wont,  connect  the  practical 
life  of  the  Christian  and  the  Church  with  the 
Mysteries  chronicled  in  the  Gospels.  We  too, 
through  the  Son,  have  received  the  adoption  of 
sons,  and  the  spirit  that  cries  *'Abba,  Father*'; 


64  Social  Teachings 

and  finally  the  Epistle  for  the  Feast  of  the  Cir- 
cumcision, facing  straight  toward  Epiphany,  as- 
serts the  splendid  truth  that  the  Christmas  light 
reaches  to  all  the  horizons  of  the  world, — the 
blessedness  of  life  renewed  in  purity  being  pro- 
claimed by  the  Apostle  to  be  the  heritage  of  un- 
circumcised  as  of  circumcised,  of  Gentile  as  of 
Jew. 


CHAPTER  ni:    THE  SEASON  OF 
EPIPHANY 

Antiphon:    The  fellowship  of  the  mys- 
tery from  the  beginning  of  the  world  hath 
been  hid  in  God. 
V.  We  have  seen  His  star  in  the  east, 
R.  And  are  come  to  worship  Him. 

O  God,  Who  by  the  leading  of  a  star 
didst  manifest  Thy  only-begotten  Son  to 
the  Gentiles ;  Mercifully  grant  that  we,  who 
know  Thee  now  by  faith,  may  after  this 
life  have  the  fruition  of  Thy  glorious  God- 
head; through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

Amen. 


r 


CHAPTEE  ni:    THE  SEASON  OF 
EPIPHANY 

ADVENT  celebrates  the  expectation  of  the 
Truth,  Christmas  the  coming  of  the  Truth; 
Epiphany,  the  ancient  Feast  of  Lights,  celebrates 
the  discovery  or  manifestation  of  the  Truth. 
Since  manifestation  is  progressive  and  gradual, 
the  season  is  long.  Epiphany  was  the  original 
Feast  of  the  Incarnation,  and  for  a  long  time  com- 
memorated a  fourfold  glory :  the  Birth,  the  Star, 
the  Baptism,  and  the  Marriage  at  Cana.  ^^Thou 
Who  didst  make  the  world  wast  manifested  in  the 
world,  to  enlighten  those  who  sat  in  darkness. 
Glory  to  Thee,  0  lover  of  men."  So  runs  a 
short  hymn  of  the  Greeks.  And  again,  another 
Greek  hymn:  ^^0  Christ,  the  true  light  which 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world, 
let  the  light  of  Thy  countenance  be  shown  upon 
us,  that  thereby  we  may  behold  the  light  which  is 
unapproachable,  and  guide  our  steps  to  fulfil  Thy 
commandments. ' ' 

It  is  a  very  shining  season,  and  a  very  ad- 
venturous one. 

The  opening  of  it  finds  us  still  at  the  Manger. 
67 


68  Social  Teachings 

Labor  was  there  first,  in  the  persons  of  the  shep- 
herds, but  Wisdom  follows  soon.  It  comes  from 
very  far,  but  it  has  heavenly  guidance.  Perhaps 
one  would  rather  be  led  by  an  angel  than  a  star, 
but  a  star  is  not  to  be  despised. 

The  Epistle  of  the  Feast-Day  gives  the  key- 
note of  the  season:  the  expanding  revelation  of 
the  large  inclusiveness  of  love,  which  is  an  open 
mystery  like  all-embracing  light.  That  those  out- 
side the  Circumcision  should  be  of  the  initiate  was 
a  marvellous  thing,  a  mystery  indeed,  to  the 
apostle.  Exclusiveness  marked  all  possession  of 
truth  in  the  ancient  world.  The  Jews  had  no 
dealings  with  the  Samaritans ;  in  the  cults  of  the 
great  mystery-religions,  to  which  Paul  here  re- 
fers, the  esoteric  revelation  was  so  jealously 
guarded  that  we  still  speculate  about  it.  A  Mys- 
tery was  to  be  protected  from  all  breath  of  the 
outer  world.  But  the  Christian  Mystery  was  of 
a  different  character ;  and  Paul  found  a  pregnant 
phrase  to  describe  it.  Ours  is  ^^the  fellowship  of 
the  Mystery," — fellowship  limitless,  uncondi- 
tioned, in  that  true  light  which  lighteth  every  man 
that  cometh  into  the  world.  That  the  Gentiles 
should  be  fellow-heirs,  of  the  same  Body,  and 
partakers  of  the  promise  in  Christ, — ^here  is  a 
mystery  indeed,  only  to  be  made  known  by  reve- 
lation, then  and  now.    Fellowship !    It  is  a  great 


The  Season  of  Epiphany  69 

Christian  word :    fellowship  is  heaven,  the  lack 
of  it  is  hell. 

If  our  social  order  is  to  reproduce  the  spiritual 
order  which  is  in  Christ,  it  must  sweep  all  sepa- 
rateness  away.  The  Manifestation  of  the  divine 
life,  in  the  secular  as  in  the  religious  world,  can 
tolerate  no  guarded  privilege. 

The  special  Manifestation  on  which  the  Church 
dwells  during  this  holy  season,  is  of  course  that  of 
the  ministry  of  Christ  on  earth.  Swiftly  the 
precious  Sundays  pass,  touching  in  light  sugges- 
tion on  the  chief  phases  of  the  Holy  Life.  The 
not  inconsiderable  modern  school  which  thinks  the 
death  of  Christ  to  be  as  it  were  incidental,  and 
bids  us  look  not  to  the  death  but  to  the  life  for 
salvation  (as  if  that  unity  could  be  dissevered 
which  is  the  complete  revelation  of  Deity  in 
Time),  might  criticize  the  length  of  the  season  as 
compared  with  Lent  and  Passion-Tide ;  but  in  this 
case  they  must  also  criticize  the  Gospels,  which 
have  the  same  proportion,  thus  making  clear 
from  the  first  that  the  Church  considered  the  Pas- 
sion of  the  Lord  as  of  chief  importance  to  believ- 
ers. It  is  of  course  true,  however,  that  these  six 
Sundays,  several  of  which  are  often  missed  out, 
are  quite  inadequate  to  give  in  any  fullness  the 
account  of  the  Ministry.    The  method  is  purely 


^o  Social  Teachings 

suggestive,  and  the  principle  of  selection  will 
grow  clear  as  we  proceed. 

In  the  week  of  Epiphany  I,  we  remember  the 
silent  years  at  Nazareth.  The  Epistle,  with  its 
call  to  present  our  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  is  a 
fitting  prelude  to  the  contemplation  of  those  years, 
in  which  thought  loves  to  dwell  upon  the  Work- 
man Christ,  the  child  and  lad  in  Joseph's  shop, 
earning  bread  by  daily  labor.  Art  and  letters 
have  combined  to  add  vividness  to  the  lovely 
scene,  a  scene  surely  authentic  as  is  proved  by  one 
precious  phrase  in  St.  Mark's  story :  *^I&  not  this 
the  Carpenter?" 

The  drama  of  the  Gospels  has  as  its  setting  the 
world  of  homely  and  normal  toil.  The  pastoral 
life,  at  the  outset,  is  shown  in  easy  commerce 
with  angelic  hosts;  agricultural  and  domestic 
life  is  the  background  of  most  of  the  Master's 
parables.  One  can  not  help  feeling  that  certain 
occupations  bring  Him  especially  near :  the  doctor 
and  the  teacher  can  claim  Him  in  special  sense 
as  head  of  the  profession.  But  the  trade  of  build- 
ing, with  its  sacred  task  of  sheltering  humanity, 
is  most  closely  of  all  consecrated  by  His  direct 
labor : 

*^In  the  shop  of  Nazareth 
Pungent  cedar  haunts  the  breath. 


The  Season  of  Epiphany         71 

''In  the  room  the  Craftsmaii  stands, — 
Stands  and  reaches  out  His  Hands.  .  .  . 
Let  the  shadow  veil  His  Face 
If  you  must,  and  dimly  trace 
His  workman's  tunic,  girt  with  bands 
At  the  waist.    But  the  Hands, — 
Let  the  light  play  on  them, 
Marks  of  toil  lay  on  them. 

**When  night  comes,  and  I  turn 
From  my  shop,  where  I  earn 
Daily  bread,  let  me  see 
Those  hard  Hands,  know  that  He 
Shared  my  lot  every  bit, 
Was  a  man  every  whit. 

*^  Carpenter,  hard  like  Thine 
Is  this  hand, — ^this  of  mine, — » 
I  reach  out,  gripping  Thee, 
Son  of  Man,  close  to  me, 
Close  and  fast,  fearlessly. '  ^  ^ 

The  Gospel  for  the  day  leads  us  behind  those 
years  of  toil  to  the  Holy  Childhood,  and  in  the 
divine  anecdote  of  Christ  among  the  doctors  gives 
an  unforgettably  significant  picture.  The  intel- 
lectual eagerness  of  the  Child  strikes  one  first ;  for 
surely  Jesus,  listening  to  the  learned  men  and 

*  Arthur  Vaughan:   Hands  of  Toil. 


^2  Social  Teachings 

questioning  them,  was  not  consciously  their 
teacher,  laying  down  the  law  with  painful  preco- 
city, as  a  false  art  suggests;  He  was  the  little 
learner,  swift  of  understanding,  marvellously 
docile  and  wise.  His  intense  absorption,  oblivious 
of  His  family,  is  a  completely  human  touch: 
*'How  is  it  that  ye  sought  me?"  Of  course  I 
should  be  here!  To  say  with  Blake  that  the 
Lord  ^* scorned  earth's  parents''  is  surely  wrong; 
yet  throughout  the  Gospels  (^*Who  is  my 
mother  and  my  brethren?")  there  is  a  gentle  un- 
compromising subordination  of  personal  claims, 
however  intimate,  to  supreme  purpose,  which  may 
be  well  if  cautiously  applied  to  certain  not  in- 
frequent modem  perplexities.  None  the  less,  the 
story  ends  with  the  welcome  statement  of  His  sub- 
jection: *^ Subject  to  them," — to  Joseph  as  well 
as  to  Mary.  Of  Joseph  we  really  know  onei  fact 
only,  apart  from  his  trade :  he  was  a  ^^  just  man," 
and  it  is  not  over-fantastic  to  think  of  Justice  as 
the  foster-father,  while  Love  is  the  mother,  of 
the  Lord  on  earth. 

During  the  five  remaining  Sundays  of  the  sea- 
son, the  thought  of  Manifestation  follows  a  double 
line,  lightly  indicated  owing  to  necessary  compres- 
sion, but  full  of  interest.  The  Epistles  dwell  on 
the  progressive  manifestation  of  the  Christian  law 


The  Season  of  Epiphany         73 

of  love  in  that  fellowship  of  light,  the  Christian 
Church.  It  is  a  Church  not  yet  run  into  eccle- 
siastical grooves,  but  a  Beloved  Community,  bent 
upon  its  great  and  amazing  adventure  of  reveal- 
ing to  the  world  for  the  first  time  the  supernatural 
work  of  grace.  All  the  passages  till  the  last  are 
from  the  noble  pioneer  St.  Paul;  I  to  V  consecu- 
tively from  Romans  XII  and  XIII,  V  from  Colos- 
sians ;  and  the  climacteric  Epistle  from  the  sixth 
Sunday  is  from  St.  John.  And  while  the  Epistles 
are  developing  the  principles  of  Christian  ethics  as 
discovered  in  the  Mystical  Body,  and  registering 
informally  the  creation  of  an  entirely  new  type  of 
character,  the  Gospels  present  the  Prototype  of 
all  Christian  men.  They  dwell  on  Christ's  min- 
istry, in  its  dual  aspect  of  deeds  and  words ;  the 
first  three  Epiphany  Sundays  presenting  ex- 
amples of  His  miracles,  the  last  two  of  His  teach- 
ing. 

Let  us  study  the  Epistles  first;  they  are  really 
a  sort  of  running  commentary,  developing  in  the 
normal  and  social  life  of  the  group  the  qualities 
which  the  Gospels  imply.  And  it  is  astonishing 
how  much  Gospel  teaching  St.  Paul  can  crowd 
into  a  few  lines. 

The  key-note  has  been  struck  in  the  first  Sun- 
day: it  is  no  less  than  a  transformation  of  the 
natural  man:     **Be  ye  not  conformed  to  this 


74  Social  Teachings 

world," — or  as  the  Eevised  Version  has  it,  ** fash- 
ioned according," — ^^but  be  ye  transformed  in  the 
renewal  of  your  mind."  We  proceed  to  see  what 
is  involved  in  that  transformation  and  renewal. 
Paul  is  nothing  if  not  practical.  Take  the  frank, 
straight-f rom-the-shoulder  instruction  of  the  pas- 
sage for  the  second  Sunday:  Concentrate  your 
attention  on  what  you  are  competent  to  do,  since 
gifts  differ.  Give  simply, — instinctively,  liber- 
ally,— ^manage  efficiently  if  that  is  your  business, 
be  cheerful  in  your  social  service  and  philan- 
thropy, candid  about  your  loving.  Loathe  evil 
things,  stick  to  the  good.  Don't  be  captious  or 
critical,  but  good-natured,  affectionate  and  fra- 
ternal, putting  other  people  ahead  of  yourself  in 
esteem  (did  the  apostle  include  trade-relations  in 
this  precept?).  Energy  is  repeatedly  stressed; 
laziness  in  secular  affairs  is  no  Christian  trait; 
but  fervor  in  spirit  must  go  with  vigor  in  action. 
Serve  the  Lord:  be  able  to  rejoice  in  hope  rather 
than  in  fulfilment  (*^What  I  aspired  to  be,  and 
was  not,  comforts  me");  and  be  patient  in  the 
troubles  that  are  sure  to  come.  Pray  insistently. 
Share  your  possessions,  but  with  discrimination. 
Be  systematically  hospitable.  See  the  point  of 
view  of  those  who  are  unpleasant  to  you;  wish 
them  well,  don't  get  impatient  with  them,  the 
apostle  repeats  anxiously,  knowing  that  he  asks 


The  Season  of  Epiphany  75 

a  hard  thing.  Be  really  sympathetic,  glad  with  the 
glad  as  well  as  sorry  with  the  sorrowing.  Don't 
be  moody,  but  equable,  and  find  the  basis  of  agree- 
ment with  one  another.  Don't  pay  attention  to 
*^high  things,"  worldly  rank  or  honor,  get  down 
to  the  level  with  plain  people,  men  of  low  estate. 
The  injunctions  tumble  out  as  fast  as  the  pen  of 
the  apostle  can  form  them;  one  feels  that  he 
writes  in  joyous  elation.  A  new  beauty,  the 
beauty  of  homely  practical  holiness,  revealed  in 
fellowship,  is  dawning  on  the  world.  Christian 
character  is  becoming  defined ;  and  the  whole  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  is  in  solution  in  the  passage. 

No,  not  the  whole;  for  the  next  two  Epistles 
carry  on  the  theme.  The  third  Epistle,  direct 
commentary  it  would  seem  on  Christ's  own  words, 
treats  that  most  difficult  of  Christian  duties,  the 
right  attitude  toward  enemies.  It  might  literally 
be  called  ^^ Above  the  Battle-field."  Some  vir- 
tues can  be  dismissed  with  a  succinct  effective 
phrase ;  not  this,  which  so  contradicts  nature  that 
Paul  himself  has  to  modify  his  injunction  with  an 
anxious :  ^^If  it  be  possible, — as  much  as  lieth  in 
you, — live  peaceably."  But  despite  modifications, 
he  gives  a  singularly  direct  transcript  of  one  of 
the  Master's  most  emphasized  and  violated  com- 
mands. 

How  violated  on  a  national  scale,  it  is  needless 


76  Social  Teachings 

if  not  seditions  to  indicate ;  there  is  more  edifica- 
tion in  noting  instances  even  in  the  midst  of  war, 
of  obedience  to  it, — that  of  the  soldier  who 
tramped  two  hours  to  secure  his  ration,  only  to 
give  it  to  the  hungry  prisoner  at  his  side;  that 
of  the  Woman  who  served  hot  cocoa  to  the  tired 
soldiers  who  had  just  burned  her  little  home,  with 
the  result  that  when  ordered  to  burn  the  next  vil- 
lage the  men  refused  and  were  shot  in  conse- 
quence,— doubtless  to  their  eternal  gain.  Thank 
God,  Christian  people  have  often  behaved  in  this 
way;  but  instances  of  similar  national  policy  are 
far  to  seek.  The  excellent  outcome  of  England's 
policy  to  the  Boers  and  of  our  return  of  the  Boxer 
indemnity  gave  hints,  which  no  nation  of  late 
seems  inclined  to  follow.  If  thine  enemy  hunger, 
feed  him,  is  a  precept  which  men  have  been  forced 
to  obey  by  the  cruel  logic  of  events  to  recognize 
as  necessary  and  sensible;  but  how  reluctantly 
they  were  forced,  and  how  bitter  to  thoughtful 
people  the  absence  in  this  fearsome  post-war 
period,  of  magnanimous  impulses  toward  a  con- 
quered foe! 

Lest  the  implication  of  Paul's  teaching  seem 
a  little  revolutionary  perhaps,  the  fourth  Epistle 
is  the  apostle  at  his  most  conservative,  and  that 
is  very  conservative  indeed.    Not  for  nothing  was 


The  Season  of  Epiphany         77 

he  a  Eoman  citizen  and  proud  of  the  fact !  It  is 
an  extremely  non-resistant  passage,  which  taken 
literally  would  make  the  changes  now  in  process 
in  the  world-order  quite  impossible ;  and  it  makes 
a  curious  prelude  to  a  mighty  and  disturbing 
Gospel.  Yet  the  idea  of  a  mystic  power,  inherent 
in  authorities  once  constituted,  calling  for  loy- 
alty till  those  authorities  are  changed,  may  be 
construed  in  a  way  not  inconsistent  with  consti- 
tutional democracy;  indeed  the  only  *^ powers  that 
be"  which  the  modern  man  easily  recognizes  as 
*' ordained  of  God"  are  democratic  powers. 
Paul's  practical  mind  is  free  from  any  illusions 
about  human  nature  even  when  men  are  trying  to 
be  Christian.  Earnestly  he  reiterates  in  the 
lovely  passage  from  Colossians  which  is  the  fifth 
Epistle,  that  same  old  need  for  ^'humbleness  of 
mind," — for  meekness,  long-suffering,  forbear- 
ance: that  '^ mutual  forgiveness  of  each  vice" 
which  Blake  calls  ''The  gates  of  Paradise." 
Only  love,  which  is  "the  bond  of  perfectness"  can 
establish  men  in  these  virtues.  But  love  can  do 
all  things ;  it  can  create  the  spiritual  unity  which 
is  divine  peace  and  unfading  joy.  These  Pauline 
passages  end  their  exposition  of  "the  fellowship 
of  the  Mystery"  on  the  note  of  lyric  rapture — the 
blessed  Society  of  those  in  Christ  singing  with 


yS  Social  Teachings 

grace  in  tlieir  hearts  to  the  Lord,  and  in  all  they 
do  in  word  and  deed  giving  thanks  to  the  Father 
in  the  Name  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

The  very  beauty  of  this  picture  of  the  Chris- 
tian society  as  it  unfolds  carries  for  us  implicit 
rebuke.  In  a  civilization  where  anxious  self -pro- 
tection is  a  necessary  duty,  and  the  defensive  at- 
titude, whether  in  trade  or  in  national  politics, 
becomes  the  recognized  expression  of  loyalty  and 
patriotism,  it  is  impossible  to  realize  the  full 
power  of  the  apostolic  ideal.  That  ideal  is 
charged  with  mysterious  force;  whenever  it  gets 
a  chance,  in  private  lives,  where  it  is  less  handi- 
capped than  in  social  applications,  it  is  a  con- 
tinuous Epiphany,  a  revelation  of  heavenly  at- 
traction. But  only  in  proportion  as  Christianity 
creates  an  environment  in  which  this  free  liberal 
and  joyous  life  of  brotherhood  can  be  realized 
without  restraint,  will  it  continue  to  manifest  the 
Lord  of  Glory. 

If  such  thoughts  are  sobering,  the  last  Epiph- 
any Epistle  brings  comfort  and  reassurance,  for 
it  is  full  of  hope.^  It  turns  from  Paul  to  John, 
and  its  assertion  that  we  are  now,  despite  our 
weakness,  the  sons  of  God,  prefaces  the  exultant 

^  It  is  ordered  that  when  there  are  fewer  than  six  Sundays  after 
Epiphany,  this  Epistle  and  Gospel  shall  be  used  at  the  end  of  the 
Trinity  Season;  and  in  fact  they  are  so  used  more  often  than  not. 
They  are  as  appropriate  to  introduce  Advent  as  to  end  Epiphany, 


The  Season  of  Epiphany         79 

addition :  *  ^  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall 
be ;  but  we  know  that  when  He  shall  appear  we 
shall  be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He 
is."  Thus  shall  manifestation,  begun  on  earth,  be 
perfected  in  a  triumphant  eternity.  None  the  less, 
John  the  mystic  is  no  less  practical,  no  less  severe, 
than  Paul  the  moralist.  **Let  no  man  deceive 
you;  he  that  doeth  righteousness  is  righteous;  he 
that  committeth  sin  is  of  the  devil."  *^Sin!"  It 
has  not  before  been  explicitly  mentioned  in  the 
Epiphany  Scriptures ;  here  at  the  end  of  the  sea- 
son, it  is  suddenly,  sharply  stressed. 

For  the  consummation  of  Epiphany,  the  ulti- 
mate purpose  for  which  ^^The  Son  of  God  was 
manifested,"  is  just  here,  as  St.  John  says:  that 
He  might  ^^take  away  our  sins,"  might  ^'destroy 
the  works  of  the  Devil."  This  is  a  victory  which 
only  the  Sinless  can  achieve;  and  the  Sinlessness 
of  Christ  is  His  final  self-revelation.  To  be  made 
like  unto  Him, — to  purify  ourselves  even  as  He 
is  pure, — this  is  the  summit  of  our  desire;  this 
would  be  an  Epiphany  indeed. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  season,  the  Gospels, 
to  the  study  of  which  we  now  return,  show  phases 
of  the  Sinless  Life.  The  Epistles  deal  with  an 
ethic  which  would  have  no  point  in  solitude  but 
could  only  be  developed  in  a  Beloved  Community. 


8o  Social  Teachings 

In  like  manner,  the  Gospels  are  social,  showing  the 
Lord  in  His  relations  with  His  brethren. 

Many  of  the  traits  given  in  the  second  Epistle 
are  stressed  in  the  Gospel  for  that  day:  the 
Miracle  at  Cana.  The  Master,  glad  with  the  glad 
at  that  marriage  feast,  kindly  affectioned  toward 
wedding  guests  and  perturbed  host,  ministers  to 
their  necessity,  giving  simply  and  liberally,  and 
is  Himself  the  hospitable  host  as  He  manifests 
His  glory  by  that  generous  act  of  turning  water 
into  wine  which  He  still  stands  ready  to  perform 
at  every  feast  where  He  may  be  invoked.  The 
miracle, — exalted  by  the  Greek  Church  into  a  spe- 
cial post  of  honor, — ^is  the  solemn  consecration 
of  marriage  and  so  of  all  normal  human  ties. 
This  is  the  first  of  the  mighty  deeds  selected  by 
the  Church  for  our  instruction.  It  shows  the  Lord 
in  relation  to  a  world  pure  and  happy,  though 
needing  the  Giver  of  all  good  to  sustain  its  joy, 
and  it  shuts  out  decisively  all  false  asceticism 
and  sets  the  Sacramental  seal  on  social  life. 

In  the  third  Epiphany  Gospel,  on  the  other 
hand,  Christ  is  shown  in  a  world  at  enmity  with 
itself,  diseased  in  body  and  soul.  The  double 
healing  of  the  leper  and  of  the  Centurion's  serv- 
ant, suggests  a  wide  range  of  social  service;  for 
leprosy  and  palsy  are  types  respectively  of  un- 


The  Season  of  Epiphany         8i 

cleanness  and  helplessness,  and  the  primal  aims 
of  the  servant  of  the  community  must  always  be 
to  cleanse  and  invigorate  the  body  politic,  as  well 
as  the  bodies  of  individuals  in  need.  Swiftly, 
instantly,  comes  the  Divine  Help;  not  grudgingly, 
with  ^^ organized  charity  scrimped  and  iced,''  but 
in  response  to  the  first  word  of  desire. 

In  the  Gospel  for  the  fourth  Sunday,  the 
'^mighty  works"  of  the  Lord  mount  into  a  more 
mystical  and  difficult  region:  power  over  the 
forces  of  nature  is  shown  in  the  stilling  of  the 
storm,  power  over  the  mysterious  world  of  spir- 
itual evil  in  the  exorcism  of  the  Gadarene  devils. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  the  control  of  nature,  which 
man  can  so  far  attain  only  indirectly,  by  progres- 
sive mastery  of  science,  comes  with  apparent  ease 
to  the  harmonious  manhood  of  the  Lord ;  the  sec- 
ond of  these  two  miracles  appears  to  be  by  far 
the  most  difficult  and  costly. 

The  Scriptures  appointed  for  these  three  Sun- 
days have  been  marked  by  joy  in  the  varied  mani- 
festations of  the  Divine  Glory.  Yet  there  is  a 
stem  undercurrent.  The  faith  which  can  alone 
release  that  manifestation  is  all  too  rare.  ' *I  have 
not  found  so  great  faith,  no  not  in  Israel,"  says 
Jesus  in  sad  surprise  of  the  Eoman  centurion; 
and  He  continues  with  mingled  exaltation  and 


82  Social  Teachings 

sorrow  to  tell  of  tlie  many  who  shall  come  from 
east  and  west  and  north  and  south,  to  sit  at  the 
Feast  while  the  children  of  the  kingdom  shall  be 
cast  into  outer  darkness.  The  idea  of  a  Chosen 
Nation  has  today  been  supplanted  by  that  of  a 
Chosen  Church,  and  the  children  of  the  kingdom 
are,  one  fears,  the  respectable  members  of  it: 
shall  the  sorrow  of  the  Lord  be  repeated  again? 
^*0  ye  of  little  faith,"  is  again  the  reproach  to 
the  frightened  disciples  on  the  tossing  lake.  But 
the  climax  of  faithlessness  is  found  in  the  miracle 
among  the  Gadarenes,  which  contains  one  of  the 
most  terrible  texts  in  the  New  Testament.  When 
the  miracle  was  completed,  * '  the  whole  city  came 
out  to  meet  Jesus ;  and  when  they  saw  Him  they 
besought  Him  that  He  would  depart  out  of  their 
coasts.'^  .  .  .  Why  this  awful  desire?  Because, 
in  emancipating  a  human  soul,  property  had  per- 
ished! Some  people  are  much  concerned  about 
those  pigs  which  were  drowned  in  the  lake,  and 
the  story  certainly  presents  difficulties.  But  one 
point  is  clear, — the  mistake  made  by  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Gadara.  They  all  came  out  to  meet  Him 
who  had  set  their  fellows  free  from  a  fate  of  in- 
conceivable horror.  But  they  had  no  joy  in  that 
deliverance,  they  felt  no  gratitude.  They  begged 
Him  to  depart,  as  a  nuisance,  for  they  preferred 
to  keep  both  their  pigs  and  their  demoniacs. 


The  Season  of  Epiphany  83 

^^Eabbi,  begone!    Thy  powers 

Bring  loss  to  ns  and  ours. 

Our  ways  are  not  as  Thine, — 

Thou  lovest  men,  we — swine. 

0  get  you  hence,  Omnipotence, 

And  take  this  fool  of  Thine ! 

His  soul?    What  care  we  for  his  soul? 

What  good  to  us  that  Thou  hast  made  him  whole, 

Since  we  have  lost  our  swine!"  ^ 

As  Epiphany  II,  III  and  IV  show  the  Master  as 
Man  of  Action,  Epiphany  V  and  VI  show  Him  as 
Teacher.  Perhaps  because  the  more  usual  and 
ethical  elements  in  His  teaching  have  been  suf- 
ficiently suggested  in  the  preceding  Epistles,  these 
Gospels  both  emphasize  once  more  the  Apocalyp- 
tic outlook.  The  parable  of  the  Tares  instills  the 
need  for  toleration  in  view  of  judgment  at  the 
coming  harvest,  and  the  great  Coming  is  as  ex- 
plicitly predicted  as  in  any  Advent  Scripture,  in 
the  passage  from  St.  Matthew  for  the  last 
Epiphany  Sunday.^  It  is  striking  to  observe  that 
the  Church  never  allows  us  to  rest  in  the  present : 
when  all  is  serenest  in  the  progressive  manifes- 
tation of  the  Divine  Life,  she  sounds  once  more 
the  note  of  prescient  dread  and  hope. 

*John  Oxenham. 
*See  Note,  p.  78. 


84  Social  Teachings 

The  first  Epiphany  Collect  was  a  prayer  for 
knowledge:  ^^That  we,  who  know  Thee  now  by 
faith,  may  after  this  life  have  the  fruition  of 
Thy  glorious  Godhead.'^  The  last,  echoing  the 
Epistle,  is  a  prayer  for  holiness :  ' '  That  having 
this  hope  we  may  purify  ourselves,  even  as  He 
is  pure." 

So  does  Epiphany  lead  out  toward  Lent,  Mani- 
festation toward  Penitence.  An  undercurrent  of 
sadness,  a  growing  sense  of  shame,  may  be  clearly 
discerned  throughout  the  joyous  weeks.  None 
the  less,  the  prevalent  temper  of  this  season  is 
praise  and  glad  thanksgiving.  Christianity,  new- 
born, faces  the  task  of  expansion  rather  than  of 
repentance.  Thought  is  centred  not  in  ourselves, 
but  in  the  Sinless  Master,  Who  albeit  He  moves 
through  a  bewildered  and  latently  hostile  world, 
proceeds  with  serene  and  gracious  joy  on  His 
great  work  of  instruction  and  healing.  It  is,  like 
Advent,  a  season  of  flux,  of  hope ;  the  exhilaration 
attendant  on  discovery  and  growth  pervades  and 
suffuses  it.  There  could  be  no  better  summary 
of  its  spirit  than  that  given  in  the  last  year  of  his 
life  by  the  great  social  Christian,  Scott  Holland: 

^^  Epiphany  is  both  the  salute  and  the  call  to 
adventure.  It  is  the  summons  to  dare  the  illim- 
itable tracts  of  the  desert  for  one  remotei  and  in- 


The  Season  of  Epiphany         85 

tangible  star.  .  .  .  The  promise,  it  may  be,  is 
never  the  promise  we  look  for.  Abraham  looked 
for  a  whole  land  and  f onnd  only  a  grave :  the  chil- 
dren of  Abraham  looked  for  rest  and  found  nn- 
rest :  the  wise  men  set  forth  for  a  king  and  found  a 
child:  the  twelve  sought  for  a  prince  and  dis-- 
covered  a  Cross.  It  is  ever  so.  To  none  is  the 
promise  ever  fulfilled.  Not  here.  But  no  matter. 
The  one  vital  need  is  to  go  on, — after  the  gleam. 
Adventurers  all! 

*^Then  the  adventure  itself.  What  is  that? 
Well,  it  is  surely  the  very  living  of  the  life, — His 
Life.  To  be  that,  to  live  that, — that  is  the  soul 
of  the  Christian  endeavour.  Within  the  short 
earthly  life  there  is  always  the  temper  of  ad- 
venture. It  begins  in  boyhood  among  the  Temple 
doctors.  He  casts  Himself  adrift :  He  disappears : 
He  is  lost.  So  again  in  the  later  years.  .  .  .  He 
has  no  home :  no  regular  and  ordered  routine :  no 
set  hours :  no  guarded  and  secluded  times  for  rest 
and  meat.  No!  He  just  ^^goes  about":  He  wan- 
ders at  random :  He  depends  upon  charity.  Then, 
as  He  adventures  Himself,  so  He  calls  upon  others 
to  take  risks  too.  Launch  out:  sell  all:  forsake 
everything,  ^Follow  Me.' 

*'And  it  is  Epiphany  that  recalls  to  us  this 
essential  note  of  our  common  creed.  .  .  .  Yet  it 
is  a  little  odd  to  see  how  quick  we  are  to  admire 


86  Social  Teachings 

the  touch  of  adventure  in  others  while  we  rather 
back  from  it  for  ourselves.  We  all  read  *  fives'' 
of  St.  Francis,  but  it  hardly  seems  to  dawn  upon 
us  that  the  spirit  of  St.  Francis  is  but  the  unre- 
strained expression  of  a  mood  that  should  be 
strong  in  every  believing  heart.  ...  It  is  prob- 
ably the  feeling  that  he  was  right  that  has  been 
the  secret  of  the  undying  inspiration  of  his  name 
through  the  centuries. 

^*.  .  .  Shall  then  the  Epiphany  challenge  go  un- 
answered and  unheard?  Will  no  one  take  it  up? 
Shall  the  spirit  that  stirs  today  in  a  thousand 
thousand  soldier  souls  find  no  counterpart  in  the 
Christian  heart  and  in  the  life  of  the  Church  at 
home  ?  If  only  it  could !  If  only  here  and  there 
men  would  break  away  from  the  ordinary  ways, 
and  do  big  and  bold  and  rash  deeds  in  the  name 
and  for  the  sake  of  Him  Who  made  Himself  of 
no  reputation  and  took  upon  Him  the  form  of  a 
servant,  what  might  not  happen,  what  might  not 
come  to  pass?"  ^ 

*  Scott  Holland  in  The  Commonwealth,  Epiphany,  1918. 


CHAPTEE  IV:  SEPTUAGESIMA  TO  LENT 


Antiphon :  I  so  run,  not  as  uncertainly ; 
so  fight  I,  not  as  one  that  beateth  the  air. 

V.  Though  I  bestow  all  my  goods  to  feed 
the  poor,  and  have  not  charity, 

R.  It  profiteth  me  nothing. 

0  Lord,  Who  hast  taught  us  that  all  our 
doings  without  charity  are  nothing  worth ; 
Send  Thy  Holy  Ghost,  and  pour  into  our 
hearts  that  most  excellent  gift  of  charity, 
the  very  bond  of  peace  and  of  all  virtues, 
without  which  whosoever  liveth  is  counted 
dead  before  Thee.  Grant  this  for  Thine 
only  Son  Jesus  Christ's  sake.  Amen. 


CHAPTEE  IV:  SEPTUAGESIMA  TO  LENT 

**  Alleluia  can  not  always 
Be  our  song  while  here  below." 

ALEEADY  the  later  Epiphany  Sundays  have 
hinted  at  new  aspects  of  the  faith.  Through- 
out the  season,  we  have  watched  manifestation 
widen,  as  Truth  like  light  irradiates  the  world. 
But  that  world  is  set  even  in  the  hearts  of  the  dis- 
ciples. Christianity  as  interpreted  by  mortals  is 
no  transparent  medium  for  transmitting  the  divine 
light.  It  must  itself  be  cleansed,  and  as  we  pursue 
the  adventure  of  discovering  its  power  and  mean- 
ing, the  sense  of  inadequacy  brings  increasing  sad- 
ness. A  craving  awakens  in  the  soul  which  re- 
quires a  new  emphasis.  In  three  interesting  Sun- 
days, with  names  which,  though  colorless  in  them- 
selves, count  forward  through  the  shadows  to  the 
Easter  dawn,  the  transition  to  new  experience  is 
accomplished. 

Septuagesima  strikes  the  frank  note  of  con- 
fession in  the  prayer,  from  the  Sarum  missal, 
*Hhat  we  who  are  justly  punished  for  our  offences 

89 


90  Social  Teachings 

may  be  mercifully  delivered  by  Thy  goodness,  for 
the  glory  of  Thy  Name.''  The  invigorating 
Epistle  is  an  incentive  to  energy  in  the  race,  and 
a  warning  lest  those  who  have  sought  to  manifest 
the  light  should  themselves  be  cast  into  darkness ; 
the  missionary  zeal  of  Epiphany  is  thus  called  to 
a  temporary  halt,  and  deepened  by  the  stem  sum- 
mons to  self-discipline  and  introspection.  The 
Gospel  is  the  parable  of  the  Laborers  in  the  Vine- 
yard, or,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  of  the  Eleventh 
Hour. 

If  people  are  candid,  they  usually  confess  that 
this  story  outrages  their  sense  of  justice.  ' '  These 
last  have  worked  but  one  hour,  and  thou  hast 
made  them  equal  unto  us,  which  have  borne  the 
burden  and  heat  of  the  day. ' '  An  arbitrary  per- 
formance, contradicting  our  ideas  of  what  is  suit- 
able, and  our  most  accredited  economic  principles. 

John  Euskin  was  fully  alive  to  the  contradic- 
tion; therefore,  he  chose  the  words  of  the  house- 
holder, *^  Friend,  I  do  thee  no  wrong.  ...  I  will 
give  unto  this  last  even  as  unto  thee,"  for 
the  title  of  his  most  challenging  book.  The  book 
challenges  us  still,  though  its  root-principle,  that 
reward  be  measured  less  by  productive  values 
than  by  the  worker's  readiness  and  need,  is  not 
so  startling  today  as  in  1860.  At  that  date,  the 
idea  that  inequity  might  result  from  free  compe- 


Septuagesima  to  Lent  91 

tition,  and  that  the  habit  of  taking  advantage  of 
a  glut  in  the  labor-market  to  buy  labor  cheap 
might  have  been  discountenanced  by  Jesus,  was 
shocking  to  the  British  public.  Euskin's  friend 
Thackeray  had  to  suppress  the  chapters  of  the 
book,  which  were  running  through  his  magazine. 
The  Cornhill.  Today,  this  idea,  though  still  dis- 
tasteful in  many  quarters,  has  become  familiar; 
and  we  are  in  a  better  position  than  our  fathers 
to  realize  the  implications  of  the  story. 

Now  a  parable  is  not  a  treatise  on  industrial 
life;  and  any  economic  inference  from  Our  Lord's 
words  is  sure  to  be  criticized  by  many  people  who 
always  wish  to  confine  His  meaning  to  what  they 
call  the  ^* spiritual"  sphere, — ^by  which  they 
usually  mean  the  personal.  And  undoubtedly 
the  spiritual  and  personal  application  is  para- 
mount and  permanent.  The  feeble,  the  frustrated, 
the  baffled,  who  long  in  vain  for  permission  to 
gather  the  grapes  of  the  Lord  and  to  press  them 
into  wine  which  shall  make  glad  the  heart  of  man, 
— all  people  neglected  or  impotent  in  the  mystic 
vineyard  of  interior  experience,  or  on  more  prac- 
tical planes,  can  take  heart  of  grace  from  the 
story.  They  too,  at  the  eleventh  hour,  shall  be 
sent  forth  to  labor,  and  shall  be  judged  worthy  of 
the  full  reward;  for  the  Law  of  the  Spirit  does 
not  measure  values  by  earthly  measurements,  and 


92  Social  Teachings 

often  numbers  among  the  most  creative  and  pro- 
ductive, those  who  only  stand  and  wait. 

But  it  is  dangerous  to  avoid  applying  Chris- 
tian principles  to  social  and  industrial  life,  by 
relegating  them  to  a  purely  ^^ spiritual"  sphere. 
That  time-honored  evasion  contradicts  the  whole 
Sacramental  philosophy.  The  very  point  of  the 
great  truths  radiating  from  the  Incarnation,  is 
that  one  harmonious  law  runs  through  all  spheres 
of  being,  wherever  the  Grace  of  God  controls  the 
world;  and  since  our  business  is  to  regulate  earthly 
dealings  by  this  divine  law,  we  have  no  right  to 
deny  economic  significance  to  this  parable. 

That  significance  lies  quite  plainly  on  the  sur- 
face. These  are  the  Unemployed  who  stand  all 
day  in  the  market  place,  because  no  man  has  hired 
them;  and  the  *^ penny  a  day,"  for  which  the 
workmen  have  contracted,  represents,  as  Ruskin 
saw,  a  sort  of  ^^ National  Minimum,"  or  living 
wage;  for  the  ^^ penny"  in  Biblical  times  was  re- 
garded as  a  fair  average  wage  for  a  day's  work. 
The  obvious  moral  is,  that  society  should  not  de- 
prive men  of  this  wage  when  they  are  idle  through 
no  fault  of  their  own. 

This  is  a  good  trade-union  parable;  indeed,  it 
seems  to  go  a  little  further  than  normal  trade- 
union  practise,  and  to  suggest  the  Saint-Simonian 
formula,  which  today  so  powerfully  controls  great 


Septuagesima  to  Lent  93 

sections  of  the  proletarian  mind:  ^*From  each 
according  to  his  capacity ;  to  each  according  to  his 
needs."  It  is  a  formula  which  might  carry  us 
far,  conceivably  toward  a  Soviet  system.  It  is 
hardly  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  all  schemes  for 
social  reconstruction  are  implicit  in  it.  And  to 
find  this  clear  if  paradoxical  exposition  of  divine 
justice  at  the  turn  to  the  season  of  penitence,  is 
certainly  suggestive.  Just  in  proportion  as  civi- 
lization grows  toward  this  justice,  it  will  reject 
the  idea,  so  native  to  the  natural  man,  that  dis- 
parity of  reward  is  a  necessary  incentive  to  labor, 
and  will  refuse  to  listen  when  workers  or  anyone 
else  grumble  over  equality.  For  in  its  treatment 
of  people  it  will  look  less  to  their  achievement 
than  to  their  necessities  and  less  to  their  past  than 
to  their  future.  It  will  be  placed  on  the  sure 
foundation  of  supplying  to  every  man,  not  what 
he  has  earned,  but  what  will  best  enable  him  to 
develop  a  richer  manhood. 

The  sentence,  ^^Is  it  not  lawful  for  me  to  do 
what  I  will  with  my  own?"  is  difficult.  It  seems 
to  recognize  an  arbitrary  standard  of  property, 
and  the  difficulty  is  not  solved  by  the  fact  that 
the  Goodman  is  the  Lord.  One  can  at  least  say 
that  the  parable,  realistic  like  all  Christ's  illus- 
trations, takes  the  world  as  it  is,  and  that  if  all 
employers  used  authority  over  ''their  own"  for 


94  Social  Teachings 

this  sort  of  decision,  private  ownership  would  be 
less  challenged  than  it  is  now.  The  closing  words, 
^^For  the  last  shall  be  first  and  the  first  shall  be 
last/'  are  said  not  to  have  formed  part  of  the 
original  story,  to  which  indeed  they  seem  slightly 
irrelevant.  But  even  if  spoken  on  another  oc- 
casion, they  form  an  integral  part  of  Christ's 
teaching.  When  shall  we  begin  to  express  the 
principle  they  imply,  in  the  economic  structure  ? 

The  Greek  Church  uses  for  the  Gospel  of  this 
Sunday  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal ;  and  the  les- 
son of  the  two  parables  is  much  the  same.  Both 
score  the  jealousy  of  the  self-righteous,  which 
has  so  very  real  a  case  in  the  eyes  of  the  world. 
People  who  sympathize  with  the  grumbling  labor- 
ers will  sympathize  with  the  grumbling  Elder 
Brother.  These  were  all  excellent  persons,  faith- 
ful and  dutiful  workmen.  They  judged  according 
to  the  world's  judgment,  on  which  existing  society 
is  erected  as  on  a  stable  and  just  foundation.  But 
they  were  not  perfected  in  love,  and  therefore 
they  could  not  recognize  the  higher  justice,  which 
is  not  primarily  concerned  with  deserts  or  serv- 
ices but  with  needs  and  possibilities.  Love  re- 
joices that  the  prodigal  rather  than  the  dutiful 
son  should  have  the  fatted  calf.  Love  is  glad 
to  see  the  idle,  the  weak,  the  rejected,  admitted  to 


Septuagesima  to  Lent  95 

an  equality  with  the  strong,  the  energetic,  the 
successful. 


* '  Faith  will  vanish  into  sight ; 
Hope  be  emptied  in  delight; 
Love  m  Heaven  will  shine  more  bright, 
Therefore,  give  us  love." 

The  note  of  Sexagesima  is  the  note  of  Chris- 
tian heroism.  The  superb  enumeration  of  his 
trials  by  the  apostle  should  put  our  smooth  lives 
to  shame,  and  quicken  in  us  the  craving  for  Lenten 
discipline.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  Greek 
Church  makes  in  this  week  a  special  commemo- 
ration of  ascetics.  Lives  may  not  always  be 
smooth ;  we  are  particularly  aware  of  that  fact  in 
these  anxious  times,  when  Fear  hovers  over  the 
world  like  a  bird  of  prey.  But  the  Christian  must 
be  ready  at  any  moment  to  welcome  opportunities 
for  perils,  weariness  and  painfulness,  for  watch- 
ings,  hunger  and  thirst,  cold  and  nakedness.  The 
social  revolution  may  quite  conceivably  call  for 
all  these  forms  of  Christian  witnessing. 

In  the  Gospel  and  in  other  devotions  of  the 
week,  the  Greek  Church  again  emphasizes  the 
judgment  to  come.  But  our  Anglican  Gospel  is 
the  parable  of  the  Sower.     This,  like  the  other 


96  Social  Teachings 

parable  just  studied,  reveals  an  eternal  principle 
which  should  receive  not  only  a  personal  but  a 
social  application.  For  the  natural  picture  is  sug- 
gested of  a  community  with  varying  social  condi- 
tions. The  thin  and  sterile  soil  in  which  the  good 
seed  can  with  difficulty  mature,  will  be  recognized 
by  every  social  worker  as  an  apt  image  for  the 
poverty  in  which  all  better  ideals  and  interests, 
however  sedulously  implanted,  are  prone  to 
wither.  The  other  type  of  ground,  in  which  the 
thorny  cares  and  pleasures  and  riches  of  this  life 
stifle  the  little  plants  of  holiness,  is  one  in  which 
all  too  many  of  us  are  trying  to  grow  our  souls. 
''The  cares  of  this  world  and  the  deceitfulness  of 
riches,''  is  the  description  in  St.  Matthew;  and 
the  apposite  phrases  have  that  exact  felicity  often 
possessed  by  the  words  of  Him  Who  was  master 
of  language  as  well  as  of  men's  hearts.  They 
describe  accurately  two  evils  of  which  He  stands 
in  constant  dread :  the  cares,  from  which  men  con- 
tinually create  a  false  standard  of  duty,  so  that 
they  are  tethered  as  it  were  to  anxious  thought  for 
the  morrow;  the  deceitfulness,  which  is  the  most 
subtle  characteristic  of  wealth,  and  which  explains 
why  the  Lord  habitually  deprecated  and  feared 
riches  for  His  followers. 

Jesus  is  intensely  anxious  that  His  disciples 
shall  catch  the  full  force  of  this  parable.    ''He 


Septuagesima  to  Lent  97 

cried  and  said,  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear  let  him 
hear,"  is  one  of  the  living  touches  assuring  us 
that  we  listen  to  an  authentic  tradition. 

These,  so  He  tells  the  more  intimate  group  that 
questions  Him,  are  the  mysteries  of  the  Kingdom 
of  God.  The  Church  from  the  opening  of  Advent 
has  directed  our  attention  repeatedly  to  that 
Kingdom  as  a  future  ideal,  connected  with  a 
cataclysmic  end  of  the  age.  At  this  point,  as  in 
Epiphany  V  and  in  Septuagesima,  she  invites  us 
to  dwell  upon  it  as  a  principle  of  normal  and  se- 
cret growth;  the  fullness  of  the  Master's  thought 
can  only  be  compassed  by  inclusion  of  both  ideas, 
for  both  are  necessary  clues  to  the  true  interpre- 
tation of  history.  And  when  we  recall  the  funda- 
mentally social  meaning  inherent  in  the  concep- 
tion of  the  Kingdom  to  every  faithful  Jew,  we  are 
reinforced  in  our  conviction  that  these  parables 
all  assuredly  apply  not  only  to  inward  disposi- 
tion but  to  outward  circumstance.  Seed  is  not 
ours  to  create;  it  is  given  us  by  a  perpetual 
miracle.  But  it  is  ours  to  plant  and  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  soil  is  distinctly  our  business.  All 
programmes  of  social  welfare  are  a  matter  either 
of  preparing  the  soil  or  of  planting  the  seed. 

On  Quinquagesima  Sunday,  Lent  is  close;  and 
beautiful  introduction  is  given  to  the  season  of 


98  Social  Teachings 

penitence,  by  the  great  exaltation  of  love.  The 
Reformation  Collect,  composed  in  1549,  is  in  per- 
fect unison  with  the  Epistle  and  Gospel,  which 
are  the  same  as  in  the  Sarum  missal,  the  manu- 
script missal  of  Leofric,  and  the  ancient  Lection- 
ary  of  the  Roman  Church.  In  the  Greek  Church, 
the  story  of  the  Fall  is  recounted  on  this  Sunday; 
our  custom  is  more  tender. 

On  the  social  character  of  St.  Paul's  great  love- 
lyric  it  is  surely  needless  to  dwell.  With  superb 
and  convincing  ease  it  sweeps  away  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  orator,  the  scholar,  the  fanatic,  the 
philanthropist,  yes,  of  the  martyr,  as  in  them- 
selves of  no  avail.  The  burning  passion  of  the 
man  who  feared  lest  when  he  had  preached  to 
others  he  might  himself  become  a  castaway,  his 
stern  avoidance  of  self-deception,  speak  through 
every  line.  The  enumeration  of  the  ** notes"  of 
love  is  wholly  practical ;  it  could  have  been  writ^ 
ten  only  by  a  man  of  the  world,  moving  among  hisi 
fellow  men.  It  was  St.  Teresa,  most  exalted  of 
cloistered  mystics,  who  said  cannily  that  we  could 
only  be  sure  that  we  loved  God  by  watching  our- 
selves to  see  if  we  loved  our  brothers;  and  St. 
Paul  is  here  wholly  concerned  with  the  test  of  love 
by  the  plain  human  behavior  to  other  people. 
If  we  are  kind  and  patient  and  modest,  if  we  are 
free  from  envy  and  soreness,  if  we  instinctively 


Septuageslma  to  Lent  99 

shrink  from  a  critical  interpretation,  and  hate  to 
know  about  badness,  instead  of  gloating  over  it 
as  some  ^^good  people"  do,  if  we  can  bear  all 
things,  believe  all  things,  hope  all  things,  endure 
all  things, — ^why  then  we  have  our  share  in  the 
love  that  never  fails,  and  have  escaped  froni^  the 
temporal  order  into  the  eternal.  Now  we  see 
reality  only  darkly,  reflected  as  in  a  mirror;  but 
some  day  we  are  to  see  face  to  Face,  and  know 
even  as  we  are  known.  That  perfect  knowledge, 
says  the  apostle,  shall  be  perfect  love :  an  asser- 
tion of  Christian  faith,  putting  to  rout  the  in- 
sidious fears  of  the  cynic. 

It  is  well  that  this  meditation  on  true  charity 
should  precede  our  summons  to  the  stern  self- 
disciplines  of  Lent:  lest  as  we  seek  the  higher 
sanctities,  the  mood  of  the  Pharisee  should  betray 
us  and  we  turn  hard.  There  are  three  types  of 
people:  the  first,  including  most  of  us,  whose 
standards  for  others  are  more  severe  than  those 
for  themselves:  the  second,  who  have  a  high 
standard  for  personal  life  but  insist  on  a  like 
standard  for  others:  and  finally  the  third  and 
Christian  type,  which  St.  Paul  wishes  to  recom- 
mend,— severe  toward  itself,  lenient  toward  its 
brethren.  As  a  man  mounts  to  the  higher  levels 
in  his  quest  of  sanctity,  the  second  type  is  that  to 
avoid. 


100  Social  Teachings 

The  QuinqTiagesima  Gospel  has,  as  is  fitting,  the 
first,  solemn  prediction  of  the  Passion;  and  the 
prayer  of  blind  Bartimaeus,  ^^Lord,  that  I  may 
receive  my  sight,"  is  the  cry  of  the  sonl,  bom 
out  of  all  the  teaching  which  precedes. 


CHAPTEE  V :    THE  SEASON  OF  LENT 

Antiphon :  As  sorrowful,  yet  always  re- 
joicing; as  poor,  yet  making  many  rich; 
as  having  nothing,  and  yet  possessing  all 
things. 

V.  Sanctify  a  fast,  call  a  solemn  as- 
sembly ; 

R.  Gather  the  people,  sanctify  the  con- 
gregation. 

0  Lord,  Who  for  our  sakes  didst  fast 
forty  days  and  forty  nights ;  Give  us  grace 
to  use  such  abstinence,  that,  our  flesh 
being  subdued  to  the  Spirit,  we  may  ever 
obey  Thy  godly  motions  in  righteousness, 
and  true  holiness,  to  Thy  honour  and  glory, 
"Who  livest  and  reignest  with  the  Father 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  one  God,  world  with- 
out end.  Amen. 


CHAPTEE  V :  THE  SEASON  OF  LENT 

EPIPHANY  leads  the  gaze  outward  to  the 
spread  of  the  Good  News  through  the  world ; 
Lent  leads  it  inward,  Easter  upward.  To  watch 
and  share  the  expansion  of  the  Gospel  of  the 
Kingdom  was  at  first  pure  joy.  But  Christianity 
undefiled,  illumining  a  hostile  world,  is  not  the 
whole  story.  The  three  Sundays  of  transition 
have  changed  our  mood.  Progressive  vision 
normally  ends  in  humility  and  shame;  now,  only 
the  ashes  on  the  brow  can  satisfy  the  penitent 
soul. 

The  Church  grew  slowly  into  recognizing  the 
necessity  for  Lent,  and  the  present  length  of  the 
season  is  arbitrary.  ^*It  seems  clear  that  the 
original  fast  before  Easter  was  one  of  forty  hours, 
this  being  the  period  between  the  death  of  Our 
Lord  and  His  resurrection. ' '  ^  Gradually  and  ir- 
regularly the  time  was  extended;  Ash- Wednes- 
day, and  the  three  days  preceding  the  first  Lenten 
Sunday  were  probably  added  by  Gregory  the 
Great.     The  present  length  of  the  season,  though 

*The  Prayer-Book  Interleaved.     Campion  and  Beamont,  p.  99. 

103 


104  Social  Teachings 

not  primitive,  was  apparently  determined  by  the 
fifth  century. 

It  has  been  challenged  lately.  The  charge  is 
made  that  Lent  has  become  formal,  marked  chiefly 
by  the  multiplication  of  services  which  over- 
work the  clergy  and  bore  the  congregation;  that 
nobody  should  be  called  to  repent  his  sins  six 
weeks  on  end ;  and  that  a  shortened  period,  say  a 
fortnight,  might  possibly  be  used  in  an  intensive 
way,  as  a  time  of  real  and  fresh  contrition. 

There  is  no  historical  or  psychological  sanc- 
tion for  any  special  number  of  weeks,  and  the 
point  is  worth  considering.  But  it  is  strange  to 
choose  this  special  epoch  of  world-story  in  which 
to  say  that  Christians  dedicate  too  much  time  to 
penitence !  Rather  might  it  well  be  claimed  that 
our  year  just  now  should  be  a  perpetual  Lent,  at- 
tuned to  the  cry  of  Bartimaeus:  May  the  Lord 
open  our  eyes,  and  grant  our  shamed  repentance 
power  to  restore  justice  among  the  nations  of 
men! 

It  is  to  be  noted,  moreover,  that  the  present 
ordering  of  the  season  does  not  call  for  six  weeks 
of  steady  introspection  and  self-castigation.  Dur- 
ing four  weeks,  the  faithful  recognize  the  stern 
assaults  of  evil,  and  abide  in  the  wilderness  with 
their  Lord;  during  the  last  two,  eVen  while  the 
Fast  endures,  they  turn  with  softened  hearts  to 


The  Season  of  Lent  105 

the  Vision  of  Salvation.  And  even  so,  the  case 
is  stated  too  strongly,  for  the  fourth  Sunday  in 
Lent,  to  which  the  tender  names  of  Eefreshment 
Sunday  or  Mothering  Sunday  have  been  given,  is 
charged  with  exquisite  consolation. 

These  thoughts,  however,  may  be  considered 
evasions  of  the  issue.  For  it  must  frankly  be  con- 
fessed that  penitence  even  in  small  doses  has  be- 
come unpopular.  Whole  systems  of  religion  de- 
cry it  as  morbid,  and  bid  us  relegate  it  to  the 
lumber-house  of  obsolete  spiritual  oppressions, 
while  in  endless  monotony  we  ^^hold  the  thought" 
of  health  and  joy  and  stereotype  our  smile.  Al- 
most everybody  is  infected  with  uneasy  impatience 
against  self-examination.  Look  out,  not  in,  and 
lend  a  hand ;  in  other  words,  take  up  social  serv- 
ice and  work  etnergetically  for  others  without 
bothering  about  yourself :  that  is  the  modern  coun- 
sel. 

Such  precepts  are  a  reaction  from  very 
genuine  overstrain  which  the  middle-aged  can 
remember.  Yet  Catholic  thought,  always  on 
guard  against  excess  from  any  side,  can  not  ac- 
cept them.  To  that  thought,  sin  is  grimmest 
reality,  to  be  met  not  by  evasion  or  denial,  but 
in  conscious  fight,  desperate  as  ever  Christian 
waged  with  ApoUyon. 

Dean  Inge,  in  a  suggestive  little  book  on  Types 


10^6  Social  Teachings 

of  Christian  Saintliness,  claims  that  the  idea  of 
holiness  is  characteristically  Catholic.  **The 
Catholic  saint,"  says  he,  ^*has  a  horror  of  sin 
and  a  shrinking  from  it  which  the  Protestant 
would  think  morbid."  Protestant  virtue  on  the 
other  hand  centres  to  him  in  a  sense  of  direct 
inward  inspiration  leading  to  intense  individual- 
ism ;  while  the  Liberal  Christian,  whom  he  treats 
as  a  third  type  more  common  nowadays,  has  for 
his  vital  centre  the  pure  passion  for  truth.  Dean 
Inge  quotes  with  agreement  a  remark  of  Sir 
Oliver  Lodge,  that  ^^the  modern  man  is  not 
worrying  over  his  sins  at  all,"  and  he  says 
plainly:  *^I  should  regard  this  defective  sense 
of  sin  as  the  chief  flaw"  in  the  liberal  type  of 
Christian. 

Generalizations  are  always  insecure.  One  can 
not  forget  the  intense  and  passionate  remorse 
of  the  old  Puritans,  as  shown  in  a  book  like  Bun- 
yan's  Grace  Abounding;  and  that  very  over- 
strain spoken  of  above  was  the  result  of  the  un- 
wholesome lengths  to  which  introspection  was 
carried  in  early  New  England.  As  for  in- 
ward inspiration,  Dean  Inge  has  a  hard 
time  of  it  to  get  around  the  Catholic  mystics, 
who  certainly  specialized  as  much  as  Protestants 
on  that  line.    But  if  the  Catholic  tradition  does 


The  Season  of  Lent  107 

in  the  long  run  place  more  steady  stress  than 
Protestant  or  Liberal  on  human  sinfulness,  that 
tradition  should  be  revived;  for  it  is  rooted  deep 
in  reality.  Any  honest  man,  as  he  watches  his 
poor  consciousness,  poisoned  by  prejudices  and 
distastes,  bound  by  earthiness,  inhibited  by 
egotisms,  has  a  right  to  cry  out  in  anguish :  ^*  An 
enemy  has  done  this/'  He  should  pay  alert  atten- 
tion to  that  enemy.  He  should  watch  its 
manoeuvres,  he  should  trace  it  to  its  hidden  lair, 
and  there  he  should  fight  it  to  the  death.  In  last 
analysis,  the  war  against  evil  must  be  fought  out 
on  the  battle-ground  of  personality. 

But  not  on  that  battle-ground  alone;  and  one 
important  way  to  escape  unreality  or  morbidness 
in  our  contrition  and  to  restore  the  fading 
sense  of  sin,  is  to  supplement  personal  self- 
examination  and  penitence  by  resolute  social 
shame. 

In  this  way,  we  may  unite  what  is  best  in  the 
Catholic,  Protestant,  and  Liberal  tradition:  the 
deep  horror  of  sin  which  marks  the  Catholic, 
with  the  active  conflict  agaiiist  it  which  Dean  Inge 
says  marks  the  evangelical  Protestant,  and  the 
keen  interest  in  a  better  world  which  we  all  recog- 
nize as  characteristic  of  the  Liberal  Christian. 
And  we  shall  assuredly  be  following  the  method 


io8  Social  Teachings 

of  Christ.    For  the  Lord's  dealing  with  evil  is  full 
of  a  sane  objectivity,  as  is  also  that  of  His  Church. 


There  is  no  experience  so  private  as  penitence ; 
there  is  no  season  so  social  as  Lent.  From  the 
very  outset,  the  fact  is  clear.  The  first  impulse 
of  a  man  when  he  is  ashamed  of  himself  is  to  run 
away  and  hide;  but  Lent  has  no  indulgence  for 
that  impulse.  ^^Blow  the  trumpet  in  Zion,  call  a 
solemn  assembly :  gather  the  people,  sanctify  the 
congregation,  assemble  the  elders,  gather  the 
children,  and  those  that  suck  the  breasts :  let  the 
bridegroom  go  forth  of  his  chamber,  and  the  bride 
out  of  her  closet.  Let  the  priests,  the  ministers 
of  the  Lord,  weep  between  the  porch  and  the  altar, 
and  let  them  say.  Spare  thy  people,  0  Lord,  and 
give  not  thine  heritage  to  reproach."  .  .  .  The 
publicity  is  actually  ceremonial;  it  is  fearful  in 
its  solemnity.  The  first  sense  of  sin  to  be  engen- 
dered is  the  corporate,  the  national  sense.  Israel 
is  to  repent  as  one  man  and  the  recognition  of 
this  necessity  pervades  the  Old  Testament  at  its 
deepest.  Even  when  the  note  is  poignantly  per- 
sonal, as  sometimes,  for  instance,  in  the  Peni- 
tential Psalms,  there  is  the  turn  at  the  end :  ^ '  Out 
of  the  depths  have  I  called  unto  Thee,  0  Lord. 
...  0   Israel  trust  in  the  Lord."  .  .  .  ^'Have 


The  Season  of  Lent  109 

mercy  upon  me,  0  Lord.  .  .  .  Wash  me  thor- 
oughly from  my  wickedness.''  .  .  .  But  then  in- 
stantly: ^'0  be  favorable  and  gracious  unto  Zion, 
build  Thou  the  walls  of  Jerusalem." 

Study  of  the  Lenten  Scriptures  in  their  entirety 
brings  out  with  startling  force  the  intention  of  the 
Church  that  personal  penitence  shall  be  rooted  in 
the  sense  of  national  contrition.  How  impressive 
they  are, — these  passages  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, which  reach  us  across  the  abyss  of  the  gen- 
erations with  accent  clear  as  that  of  yesterday ! 

'^Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts:  ...  If  ye 
thoroughly  amend  your  ways  and  your  doings,  if 
ye  thoroughly  execute  justice  between  a  man  and 
his  neighbor,  if  ye  oppress  not  the  stranger"  (how 
about  the  alien  enemy?),  *^the  fatherless  and  the 
widow,  and  shed  not  innocent  blood  in  this  place 
.  .  .  then  will  I  cause  you  to  dwell  in  this  place 
in  the  land  which  I  gave  to  your  fathers,  forever 
and  ever.  Behold  ye  trust  in  lying  words  that 
can  not  profit.  ...  Is  this  house  which  is  called 
by  my  name  become  a  den  of  robbers  in  your  eyes  ? 
Behold,  even  I  have  seen  it,  saith  the  Lord."  ^ 

**Son  of  man,  when  the  land  sinneth  against 
me  by  trespassing  grievously,  then  will  I  stretch 
out  mine  hand  upon  it  and  will  break  the  staff 

*  Jeremiah  vii,  1-11. 


■ 


no  Social  Teachings 

of  the  bread  thereof  and  will  send  famline  upon 
it  and  will  cut  off  man  and  beast  from  it."  ^ 

*'Show  My  people  their  transgression,  and  the 
house  of  Jacob  their  sins.  .  .  .  Behold  in  the 
day  of  your  fast  ye  find  pleasure  and  exact  all 
your  labors.  Behold  ye  fast  for  strife  and  de- 
bate and  to  smite  with  the  fist  of  wickedness. 
...  Is  not  this  the  fast  that  I  have  chosen?  To 
loose  the  bands  of  wickedness,  to  undo  the  heavy 
burdens,  and  to  let  the  oppressed  go  free,  and 
that  ye  break  every  yoke?  Is  it  not  to  deal  thy 
bread  to  the  hungry  and  that  thou  bring  the  poor 
that  are  cast  out  to  thy  house?  When  thou  seest 
the  naked  that  thou  cover  him;  and  that  thou 
hide  not  thyself  from  thine  own  flesh?''  ^ 

This  last  great  phrase  in  particular  never  fails, 
when  Ash- Wednesday  comes  round,  to  thrill  and 
appal  with  its  tragic  modernity.  That  thou  hide 
not  thyself  from  thine  own  flesh!  How  accu- 
rately it  describes  our  worst  offence,  penetrating 
to  the  centre  of  our  sin  and  shame, — our  class- 
exclusiveness,  our  group-provincialism,  our  na- 
tional arrogance  and  jealous  instinct  of  self -pro- 
tection !  The  sins  are  social,  the  penitence  must 
be  social,  and  social  must  the  expiation  be. 

**The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  pray  sensibly  and 

*Ezekiel  xiv,  13. 

'Isaiah   Iviii,   1-7.     All  these  passages   are   from  the  Lenten 
Lessons. 


The  Season  of  Lent  ill 

deeply  .  .  .  that  the  diabolic  spirit  of  war, 
whether  it  manifests  itself  in  the  ghastly  con- 
vulsion of  shot  and  shell,  or  whether,  vampire- 
like,  it  slowly  drains  the  life-blood  of  a  nation 
by  its  bitter  class-jealousy,  its  materialism,  its 
mammon-worship,  may  be  forever  banished  from 
our  lives. '^^ 

Perhaps  the  sense  of  sin  which  was  fast  be- 
coming unreal  to  our  stalwart  and  shallow  gen- 
eration could  be  renewed  by  nothing  short  of 
some  great  shock,  forcing  men  to  face  a  world  de- 
livered over  to  terror  by  the  results  of  their 
own  blindness  and  wrong-doing.  That  shock 
came  in  1914,  and  it  is  not  expended  yet.  As 
revolution  succeeds  war,  and  the  struggle  be- 
tween classes  throws  even  the  titanic  anguish  of 
four  momentous  years  into  the  shadow,  thought- 
ful men  experience  more  and  more  completely  a 
consciousness  of  guilty  responsibility  for  the 
causes  of  world  catastrophe.  It  becomes  apparent 
that  no  shifting  of  blame  nor  concentration  of  it 
on  one  source  is  possible.  The  crimes  of  every 
nation,  not  least  our  own,  lie  upon  us  with  a  bitter 
weight:  imperialistic  ambition  and  commercial 
greed,  sullen  class-antagonisms,  lowering  suspi- 

*Eev.  E.  M.  Venables. 


112  Social  Teachings 

cions,  tortuous  cruelties  to  those  without,  grasp- 
ing meanness  toward  those  within. 

Most  of  us  have  had  no  immediate  concern  with 
these  evils  as  individuals;  indeed,  to  a  large  ex- 
tent, the  wrong  inheres  in  a  system  which  is  an 
unconscious  growth  and  for  which  no  one,  not 
the  capitalist  nor  the  politician,  nor  any  one 
else,  is  directly  responsible  today.  Men  have 
been  blinder  than  Bartimaeus,  but  as  we  of  the 
democratic  nations  receive  our  sight,  with  what 
terrible  clearness  loom  before  us  our  irrespon- 
sibility, our  lazy  acquiescence  in  racial  and  class 
antagonisms,  our  impossible  economic  conditions, 
our  national  policies,  sure  to  ripen  into  disaster ! 
Sins,  negligences,  ignorances, — only  confession 
can  heal  us, — confession,  and  such  reparation  as 
can  be  made  by  a  reconstruction  of  society  from 
its  very  base,  in  its  international  and  industrial 
relationships.  Shallow  men  may  plume  them- 
selves on  seeing  red,  and  acquire  cheap  merit  by 
invective  against  the  sins  of  Germany  or  of  the 
Bolsheviks.  That  is  emphatically  a  method  closed 
to  the  Christian.  Israel  had  enemies  enough; 
but  the  prophets  did  not  keep  busy  denouncing 
the  sins  of  Assyria,  nor  did  they  enjoin  such  de- 
nunciations as  a  duty  on  the  people  of  Jehovaih. 

Israel,  in  the  Old  Testament,  is  not  only  nation 
but  Church.    The  sorrowful  rebukes  of  the  Lord 


The  Season  of  Lent  113 

are  addressed  to  His  Chosen  People,  who  should 
be  His  witnesses  on  earth  yet  have  turned  them- 
selves to  idols.  How  about  the  modern  Church? 
Divided,  piteous,  inept,  its  failure  to  afford 
leadership  toward  social  righteousness  scandal- 
izes the  non-Christian  world.  Through  vast  por- 
tions of  nominal  Christendom,  the  forces  which 
aim  to  restore  their  heritage  to  the  meek,  en- 
counter not  only  passivity  but  fierce  opposition 
on  the  part  of  organized  religion.  Among  us 
Anglo-Saxons,  the  situation  is  less  clear-cut. 
Eeligion,  though  hesitant  and  backward,  begins 
to  escape  convention  and  to  endorse  liberal  pro- 
grammes. But  even  in  England  and  the  United 
States,  hundreds  of  people  within  the  Church  are 
alienated  by  her  timidity  and  her  parrot-like  echo 
of  the  lower  ethics  of  the  State.  They  turn  from 
her  in  contempt;  they  leave  the  shelter  of  her 
altars,  and  join  the  noble  army  of  heretics  who 
through  the  ages,  in  similar  pain  and  wrath,  have 
tried  the  ever-futile  experiment  of  separation. 
For  the  great  loss,  to  themselves  and  to  us,  who 
is  responsible?  Largely  as  usual  the  Catholic 
Church,  drugged  by  her  own  philanthropies, 
clogged  with  worldliness  since  the  fatal  gift  of 
Constantino,  and  never  even  when  best-intentioned 
able  to  move  swiftly  enough  to  meet  the  righteous 
impatience  of  those  whose  ears  have  been  opened 


114  Social  Teachings 

to  the  cry  of  all  the  oppressions  done  under  the 
sun. 


Yet  the  nobler  Christian  mind  has  expressed 
itself  clearly  of  late  years,  on  this  duty  of  peni- 
tence. Even  during  the  War,  this  note  was  struck. 
The  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ 
in  America  said : — 

'^The  fact  that  such  a  calamity  as  this  world- 
war  could  come  compels  a  rigorous  scrutiny  of 
the  underlying  principles  of  our  civilization.  It 
is  a  summons  to  the  Christian  Church  to  chal- 
lenge a  social  order  based  on  mutual  distrust 
and  selfish  competition.  It  is  a  summons  in  peni- 
tence to  renounce  and  oppose  the  principles  of  na- 
tional aggrandizement  at  the  expense  of  other 
peoples,  of  economic  selfishness  seeking  to  con- 
trol the  world's  resources,  trade  routes,  and  mar- 
kets. It  is  a  summons  to  the  Christian  disciple- 
ship  to  bring  forth  the  fruits  of  repentance  in 
labor  for  a  new  world-order.'' 

Fine  expressions  came  from  the  Christian  press 
of  England: — 

**Ours  is  the  sin  of  a  Christendom  which  con- 
fesses Christ  but  will  not  have  Him  to  reign; 
which  has  limited  His  authority  to  private  oc- 
casions and  has  excluded  it  in  public  and  social 
affairs;  a  tlhristendom  which  has  told  Christ  to 


The  Season  of  Lent  115 

•mind  His  own  business  (which  is  the  saving  of 
souls),  and  to  let  society  and  the  world  alone. 
Germany  perfected  that  sin:  are  we  free  from 
itr^  .  .  . 

**It  is  a  clique  of  madmen  in  every  country  that 
have  driven  Europe  to  this.  But  what  has  given 
them  their  chance  is  the  diffusion  of  a  compro- 
mised Christianity. ' '  ^ 

Such  testimony  might  be  mliltiplied ;  but  noble 
words  from  Gilbert  Murray  may  fitly  end  this 
chain  of  witnesses : — 

'^  The  best  result  that  I  expect  from  America's 
entrance  into  the  war  is  .  .  .  that  in  the  upbuild- 
ing of  democracy  and  permanent  peace  through- 
out the  world,  America  and  Great  Britain  will 
take  their  part  together,  united  at  last  by  the 
knowledge  that  they  stand  for  the  same  causes, 
by  a  common  danger  and  a  common  ordeal,  and, 
I  will  venture  to  add,  by  a  common  conscious- 
ness of  sin.'' 

Looking  back  over  recent  years,  we  can  see  if 
we  will  how  habitually  we  fell  into  the  sin  of  the 
Pharisee.  The  temptation  was  great;  Germany 
had  ^'got  far  ahead  of  the  rest  in  the  joumeyl  to 
the  abyss."  But  it  was  our  stem  and  obvious 
Christian  duty, — the  chief  duty  one  would  sup- 
pose which  the  Christian  Church  as  such  had  to 

*W.  Orchard:   The  Outlook  for  Eeligion. 


Ii6  Social  Teachings 

perform  in  the  heated  atmosphere  of  war, — to 
fasten  thought  on  our  own  sins  rather  than  on 
those  of  our  enemy.  To  make  a  desperate  stand 
against  the  country  which  honestly  avowed  a 
Pagan  theory  seemed  necessary  to  most  people, 
though  amazing  asperity  was  shown  to  the  pure- 
hearted  idealists  who  felt  all  violence  false  to  the 
Teachings  of  the  Master.  But  it  was  all  the  more 
incumbent  on  those  who  furthered  the  war  to  be 
sure  that  our  own  national  life  was  free  from 
what  we  condemned.  When  Americans  read  of 
the  cruelties  inflicted  by  Germans  on  their  pris- 
oners, they  had  no  right  to  turn  their  minds  away 
with  apologetic  distaste  from  the  dastardly  mur- 
der in  the  United  States  of  an  innocent  man  who 
had  committed  no  sin  but  that  of  bearing  a  Ger- 
man name:  or  complacently  to  ignore  the  hang- 
ing up  by  the  wrists  and  flogging  of  conscientious 
objectors  at  Leavenworth.  When  we  shuddered 
at  German  atrocities,  we  should  have  faced  the 
spectacle  of  workingmen,  many  of  them  with 
liberty  bonds  in  their  pockets,  seized  like  cattle 
and  deported  on  false  pretenses;  or  the  worse 
spectacle  of  a  minister  of  Christ  who  had  de- 
fended the  liberties  of  the  people,  taken  into  a 
wood,  stripped  naked,  and  flogged :  or  the  arrest 
of  Christian  Pacifists  in  Los  Angeles  while  they 


The  Season  of  Lent  117 

were  singing  the  twenty-third  psalm.  When  our 
nerves  quivered  with  the  insolent  lawlessness  that 
prevailed  in  Belgium,  it  had  been  well  to  re- 
member the  refusal  to  grant  a  second  trial  to 
Tom  Mooney,  confessedly  condemned  on  perjured 
testimony:  or  if  we  could  bear  it,  negro  lynch- 
ings.  History  moves  swiftly  nowadays:  inci- 
dents are  readily  forgotten,  more  readily  when 
they  concern  us,  alas,  than  when  they  concern  our 
foes !  But  when  we  mourn  as  still  we  mourn  over 
the  ruthless  destruction  of  domestic  life  across 
the  sea,  let  us  recall  the  hideous  and  chronio 
devastation  of  family  life  by  industrial  slavery, 
tolerated  by  most  of  us  with  callous  indifference 
or  at  best  with  sentimental  and  ineffective  regret. 
These  thoughts  are  painful,  but  they  are  Chris- 
tian and  necessary;  for  unless  we  fought  not  as 
self-righteous  against  guilty  but  as  penitent 
against  impenitent  we  had  no  business  to  fight 
at  all. 

'^Holy  Jesu,  grant  us  tears, 
Fill  us  with  heart-searching  fears. 
Ere  that  day  of  doom  appears. 

Lord,  on  us  Thy  Spirit  pour, 
Kneeling  lowly  at  Thy  door. 
Ere  it  close  forevermore.^' 


Ii8  Social  Teachings 

The  aftermath  of  the  war,  not  yet  fully  reaped,  is 
bitter  to  us  all. 


''None  ever  hated  in  the  world,  but  came 
To  every  likeness  of  the  foe  he  fought," 

These  incisive  words   of  M.   come   home  with 
terrible  force. 
''What  wilt  thou  that  I  should  do  unto  thee?" 
"Lord,  that  I  may  receive  my  sight." 

Is  the  Lenten  message  one  of  warning  and  re- 
buke alone?  Does  it  leave  us  permanently 
plunged  in  deadening  shame  ?  Or  has  it  construc- 
tive suggestion? 

The  answer  comes  at  once  in  the  principle  of 
the  Fast:  than  which,  paradoxically,  no  answer 
could  be  at  this  point  more  constructive.  Per- 
sonal lives  can  be  purified  by  resolute  abstinence 
and  prayer,  till  they  becomje  instruments  of  social 
salvation.  The  disciplines  to  which  Lent  calls 
are  no  self-centred  indulgence  in  the  quest  for 
private  holiness ;  they  are  more  than  preparation 
for  that  "Sight  of  Soul"  the  mystic  craves;  they 
are  a  preparation  for  citizenship. 

How  sadly  failure  to  accept  this  idea  vitiates 
the  effectiveness  of  many  unchurched  radicals! 
The  distaste  which  good  Christians  often  feel 
for  certain  radical  groups  is  the  radicals'  own 


The  Season  of  Lent  119 

fault.  They  have  flung  defiance  at  the  traditions 
of  their  fathers,  these  young  socialists  and  syn- 
dicalists ;  they  look  to  far  horizons,  they  are  swing- 
ing us  today  toward  a  future  we  know  not.  Buit 
as  they  go,  they  discard  contemptuously  the 
slow  achievement  of  the  Christian  ages  in  the  art 
of  personal  living.  Of  restraints,  of  disciplines, 
they  will  often  have  none, — unless  it  be  a  question 
of  athletics.  Their  eyes  full  of  visions,  their 
hearts  full  of  license,  they  seek  to  create  a  socialist 
society  on  the  basis  of  untrammelled  personal 
freedom;  and  they  will  never  succeed.  Personal 
indulgence  is  a  poor  preparation  for  the  difficult 
experiment  of  fraternity. 

We  are  apparently  advancing  all  over  the  world 
from  a  society  based  on  mastership  to  one  based 
on  fellowship,  and  far  from  relaxing  any  of  our 
abstentions  and  disciplines  we  shall  have  to 
sharpen  them.  For  fellowship  is  the  hardest  of 
adventures.  It  can  only  be  achieved  by  people 
far  advanced  in  self-subordination,  in  whom  the 
impulse  of  unregenerate  human  nature  to  have 
its  own  way  has  been  supplanted  by  the  carefully 
developed  intuition  of  the  Whole.  The  old  in- 
terior training  of  the  Christian  life  was  admirably 
adapted  to  further  this  end.  It  produced  unsel- 
fish and  self-controlled  people;  if  it  is  tossed  on 
the  scrap-heap  and  replaced  by  easy-going  prac- 


120  Social  Teachings 

tises  and  a  defiant  claim  to  follow  one's  own  will, 
any  socialist  community  will  make  shipwreck. 

The  Church,  equally  occupied  with  a  personal 
and  with  a  social  ideal,  strikes  the  note  of  the 
Fast  all  through  the  Lenten  Sundays.  For  fasting 
of  course  means  just  training;  and  training  is 
necessary  to  any  form  of  energetic  life. 

Fasting  is  not  argued  about  in  the  Bible.  Christ 
does  not  enjoin  it.  He  assumes  it.  '^When  ye 
fast,"  He  says, — ^not.  Be  sure  you  do  fast.  And 
the  first  thing  to  be  careful  about  when  we  fast 
is  not  to  be  of  a  sad  countenance.  Cheerfulness 
is  the  elementary  duty  of  a  person  who  is  prac- 
tising self-denial.  Unworldliness,  or  detachment 
as  it  is  sometimes  called,  is  another.  ^^Lay  not 
up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon  earth,"  says 
the  Ash- Wednesday  Gospel;  not  because  it  is 
wicked  to  accumulate  wealth,  an  idea  of  which  no 
hint  is  given,  but  because  we  must  refrain  from 
that  pursuit  if  we  want  our  hearts  to  be  in 
Heaven.  '*For  where  your  treasure  is,  there  will 
your  heart  be  also";  the  intplication  being  that 
it  is  impossible  to  have  great  possessions  on 
earth  without  clinging  to  them. 

Cheerfulness  and  unworldliness  in  combination 
are  an  excellent  beginning  to  the  Lenten  train- 
ing; and  no  one  need  pretend  that  they  are  easy 
to  practise.    But  the  Church  has  instant  help  to 


The  Season  of  Lent  121 

give  her  penitents;  for  on  the  first  Lenten  Sun- 
day she  leads  them  into  the  desert  with  their  Lord. 

The  great  story  of  the  Temptation  has  a  spe- 
cial meaning  for  those  who  desire  the  humility 
of  penitential  self-knowledge,  and  whose  hearts 
are  set  on  furthering  a  better  social  order.  They, 
too,  are  driven  into  the  wilderness  whether  they 
will  or  no ;  for  we  may  well  remember  the  words 
of  Carlyle:  ^'Our  wilderness  is  the  wide  world 
in  an  atheistic  century. ' '  It  is  when  the  sense  of 
vocation  and  purpose  inundate  our  soul  that  the 
trial  is  sure  to  come.  Christ  has  been  here  be- 
fore us.  Immediately  after  the  chrism  of  the 
Spirit  had  awakened  His  Messianic  conscious- 
ness, awed  and  possessed  by  His  purpose  to 
establish  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  to  save  the 
world.  He  withdraws  to  form  His  plans  in  soli- 
tary communion  with  the  Father.  And  in  the 
wilderness  He  meets, — the  devil. 

Who  that  has  kept  a  Eetreat  at  some  solemn 
crisis  of  his  life  does  not  understand?  These  are 
the  times  of  danger.  The  devil  approached  Jesus, 
as  he  approaches  most  of  us,  not  through  evil  im- 
pulses but  through  channels  innocent  and  good; 
and  as  we  watch  the  Perfect  Man  at  odds  with 
fierce  temptation,  we  learn  to  discriminate,  and  to 
discard  various  insidious  popular  methods  of 
reaching  noble  ends.     The  Master  stands  firm. 


122  Social  Teachings 

His  strength  is  rooted,  not  in  Bis  own  intuitions 
but  in  humble  acceptance  of  authority,  in  the 
ancient  record  of  the  "Will  of  God.  There  shall 
be  no  yielding  to  mere  physical  necessity  and  no 
claiming  of  special  privilege ;  no  rash  and  fatuous 
appeal  to  sensation;  no  compromise  with  evil  for 
the  sake  of  a  pure  end.  The  high  but  unsafe  way 
of  the  fanatic,  the  low  accredited  way  of  con- 
formity, are  alike  closed  by  the  last  two  tempta- 
tions. Not  even  the  noblest  aim  to  spread  God's 
Kingdom  can  justify  either.  These  are  tempta- 
tions of  the  consecrated  and  disciplined  soul; 
none  the  less  they  come  from  the  Evil  One. 

Even  to  win  the  world  for  Christ,  His  followers 
may  use  no  method  which  He  rejected.  The  les- 
son is  hard;  and  the  Lenten  teaching  is  severe 
from  start  to  finish.  The  Epistle  for  this  first 
Lenten  Sunday  points  out  the  way  for  those  who 
are  /'workers  together  with  Him."  It  is  the  way 
of  suffering,  patience,  and  activity,  of  intelli- 
gence and  love, — strangely  different  from  the  con- 
ventional way  of  amiable  and  innocuous  relig- 
iosity. It  is  salutary  to  enquire  whether  one  can 
claim  the  apostle's  words  as  a  description  of  one's 
own  life:  *'As  dying,  and,  behold  we  live;,  as 
chastened,  and  not  killed;  as  sorrowful,  yet  always 
rejoicing;  as  poor,  yet  making  many  rich;  as  hav- 
ing nothing,  and  yet  possessing  all  things."    We 


The  Season  of  Lent  123 

are  not  apostles,  yet  it  is  probable  that  the  Church 
puts  the  passage  where  it  is  with  some  idea  of 
stimulating  us  to  imitation. 

The  Gospels  for  Lent  II  and  III  deepen  our 
recognition  of  the  fierce  conflict  with  the  mys- 
terious powers  of  spiritual  darkness,  carried  on 
by  Our  Lord  through  all  His  ministry.  The  last 
Epiphany  Sunday  has  already  introduced  us 
to  that  conflict,  in  the  story  of  the  Gad- 
arene  Demoniac;  now,  through  the  Lenten 
period,  the  Powers  of  Darkness  literally  ''prowl 
and  prowl  around."  Both  Gospels  deal  with 
demoniac  possession,  which  certainly,  whatever 
interpretation  be  given  to  it,  represents  the  mys- 
terious irruption  of  spiritual  evil  into  normal  life. 
Christ  is  of  course  always  victor,  and  the  faith 
of  the  Pagan  woman  from  Canaan  has  the  honor 
of  helping  or  forcing  Him  to  save.  The  Gospel 
for  the  third  Sunday  is  a  strange  and  awe-in- 
spiring one,  suggesting  the  unseen  drama  from 
which  are  projected  like  shadows  the  earthly 
events  which  we  are  privileged  to  watch.  In  its 
plain  statement  that  devils  are  not  cast  out 
through  Beelzebub,,  but  through  the  finger  of 
God,  and  that  negative  repentance  and  reform  are 
worse  than  nothing,  are  implied  important  princi- 
ples both  for  private  and  for  social  guidance. 

The  two  Epistles  for  Lent  II  and  III,  like  the 


124  Social  Teachings 

Epistle  for  Lent  I,  turn  from  the  combat  of  the 
Captain  of  our  salvation,  to  the  combat  of  His 
followers ;  and  very  directly  and  practically  single 
out  two  sins  for  special  warning.  The  two  are 
Impurity  and  Covetousness,  Lust  and  Greed. 
Here  are  indeed  the  root  sins  of  civilization :  deep 
bedded  in  individual  hearts,  but  bearing  evil  fruit 
for  society  when  they  are  matured.  To  set  the 
community  free  from  the  sins  of  the  flesh  and 
the  sins  of  the  acquisitive  will, — there  indeed  is 
the  programme  for  every  movement  of  social  re- 
form; and  in  pursuing  the  programme  it  is  well 
to  remember  the  warning  of  the  Gospel:  not  to 
force  on  society  a  negative  virtue,  lest  its  last 
state  be  worse  than  its  first ;  but  to  supplement  all 
cleansing  and  exorcism,  by  strong  constructive 
work.  Whether  in  regard  to  the  social  evil,  to 
intemperance,  or  to  that  other  sin  of  eager  profit- 
making  (^^ which  is  idolatry,"  says  Paul  suc- 
cinctly), the  same  principle  holds:  In  propor- 
tion as  the  evils  are  discredited  or  forbidden,  a 
Christian  civilization  must  hasten  to  fill  their 
place  with  positive  interests,  inspiration  and  joy. 

In  these  Lenten  Sundays,  we  are  thus  inevitably 
led  outward  again,  from  the  thought  of  personal 
discipline  to  the  social  aspects  of  evil;  for  the 


The  Season  of  Lent  125 

sins  which  Lent  fights  poison  society  as  they 
poison  the  soul. 

Self -disciplines  are  not  the  end  of  obedience; 
they  are  the  beginning.  The  religious  man  must 
became  enlightened,  penitent,  purified ;  but  in  pro- 
portion as  he  attains,  he  must  enter  the  sad  sanc- 
tuary of  corporate  penitence,  and  corporate  peni- 
tence, on  penalty  of  producing  despair,  must  end 
in  corporate  action. 

The  Church  has  too  largely  forgotten  the  force 
of  her  own  formulae  and  the  lesson  she  inherited 
from  the  prophets.  She  has  concerned  herself 
all  but  exclusively  with  the  personal  aspects  of 
virtue,  and  has  continually  repeated  the  half- 
truth,  that  converted  individuals  will  automatic- 
ally create  a  converted  society;  meanwhile,  the 
radicals  shout  back  at  her  that  other  half-truth, 
that  a  decent  society  makes  decent  men.  The 
individualism  which  modem  Christianity  is  just 
beginning  to  outgrow,  is  responsible  for  the  con- 
temptuous distaste  with  which  the  revolution  is 
prone  to  treat  the  power  that  should  as  many 
think  be  its  best  ally.  And  this  individualism  has 
given  excuse  to  critics  like  Lowes  Dickinson  and 
John  Stuart  Mill  to  see  in  Christianity  a  sepa- 
ratist, egotistic  and  negative  ideal,  which  if  widely 
followed  would  involve  the  suicide  of  civilization. 


126  Social  Teachings 

As  between  the  radicals  and  the  Church,  a 
Christian  must  think  that  the  Church  holds  the 
more  fundamental  truth.  But  each  half-truth 
needs  the  other.  ^^Lead  us  not  into  temptation/' 
says  the  Lord's  own  prayer.  The  words  involve 
a  definite  political  and  social  policy,  a  statesman- 
ship lofty  enough  to  create  a  society  where  the 
low  incentives  to  lay  up  treasure  on  earth  shall 
be  supplanted  by  incentives  of  honor  and  serv- 
ice, and  where  the  all  but  irresistible  pressure  to 
disobey  Christ  by  taking  thought  for  the  morrow 
shall  be  removed.  The  pitfalls  awaiting  feeble 
pilgrims,  due  to  the  system  in  which  we  are  en- 
tangled, must  be  swept  out  of  the  way  by  a  con- 
verted race. 

For  only  a  converted  race,  possessed  by  pas- 
sionate social  penitence,  invigorated  and  emanci- 
pated through  the  disciplines  of  self-control,  can 
abandon  itself  w'ith  any  hope  of  success  to  this 
great  end.  Humanity  must  rise  to  new  heights  of 
disciplined  sacrifice.  .  .  .  And  as  it  listens  hesi- 
tant to  the  call  from  far  horizons  of  vision,  the 
devil  renews  his  lures.  He  whispers  that  per- 
sonal holiness  is  the  only  legitimate  aim  for  a 
Christian,  everything  else  being  irrelevant;  that 
you  can't  make  people  good  by  legislation;  that 
there  must  be  a  different  law  for  states  and  men; 
and  that  industrial  and  political  security  are  best 


The  Season  of  Lent  127 

obtained  by  willingness  to  make  a  little  compro- 
mise and  to  fall  down  and  worship  him. 

We  are  not  to  blame  if  our  secret  hearts  are 
puzzled,  and  tempted  to  respond.  The  literal  ex- 
pression of  the  love  which  is  the  outcome  of  peni- 
tence is  not  always  easy  in  personal  behavior; 
but  it  seems  hopelessly  difficult  in  group-life.  One 
may  be  personally  a  non-resistant ;  but  when  other 
people  are  attacked  shall  one  not  defend  them? 
.  .  .  Trustees  have  duties,  even  if  it  should  hap- 
pen that  protecting  the  property  of  their  wards 
involves  opposition  to  the  demands  of  underpaid 
workmen.  .  .  .  That  complicated  impulse,  the  de- 
sire for  national  expansion,  includes  an  honest 
desire  for  the  welfare  of  millions  of  people. — ^And 
so  on,  ad  infinitum. 

Before  this  vision  of  a  penitent  race,  bending 
all  its  energy  of  mind  and  will  to  make  the  laws 
of  brotherhood  the  base  of  civilization,  thought 
grows  dizzy  and  faith  all  but  fails.  The  problem 
is  so  intricate,  the  need  for  regeneration  so  deep. 
And  there  is  such  a  fearful  lack  of  precedent 
Men  have  tried,  now  and  then.  The  Pilgrim 
Fathers  tried ;  but  their  theocracy  was  hardly  ful- 
filled in  brotherly  love.  In  a  sense,  the  Bolsheviki 
are  trying;  and  their  amazing  experiment  may 
give  Christianity  a  chance  it  has  never  had  be- 
fore ;  but  it  is  all  too  evident  that  they  have  never 


128  Social  Teachings 

been  with  Christ  in  the  wilderness.  Many  hopes 
are  turning  to  British  Labor,  which  published  the 
famous  programme  that  released  the  laws  of 
Christ  perhaps  for  the  first  time  into  practical 
politics.  But  British  Labor,  like  American,  is  at 
this  writing  divided  against  itself.  To  formulate 
ideals  is  easy ;  to  acclaim  them  is  not  difficult.  But 
to  follow  them  and  give  them  practical  application 
is  another  matter.  Where  shall  we  look  for  our 
dynamic? 

Not  to  the  political  world.  Antagonists  with- 
out and  within, — decorous  antagonists,  many  of 
them,  smooth-spoken  and  benevolent, — ^unite  to 
sneer  down  any  attempt  at  an  idealistic  reading 
of  history.  Where  are  examples  to  be  found  even 
of  effort  to  get  the  law  of  love  into  the  social  and 
political  structure?  Instances  can  be  found  in 
Christendom  of  disinterested  treatment  of  back- 
ward or  feeble  people;  though  the  cynic  insists 
that  instances  of  plain  predatory  behavior, 
lightly  camouflaged,  are  more  frequent.  But  of 
distinctly  Christian  behavior  toward  the  equal 
and  strong,  or  toward  the  conquered  foe,  on  the 
part  of  Christian  nations,  examples  are  few  in- 
deed. Certainly  the  post-war  European  world 
does  not  furnish  them.  ^^In  honour  preferring 
one  another, ' '  ran  the  Apostolic  injunction.   What 


The  Season  of  Lent  129 

an  extraordinary  thing  it  would  be  to  see  a  nation 
follow  the  precept!  Helpless,  discouraged,  des- 
perate in  presence  of  the  world-spectacle,  we  are 
almost  ready  to  abandon  our  dream. 

Helpless?  .  .  .  When  *^God  is  reigning  from 
the  Tree"? 

Our  sins  crush  us  to  the  ground.  By  the  time 
the  fourth  Lenten  Sunday  is  reached,  refresh- 
ment is  sadly  needed;  and  the  Church  at  this 
point  pauses  with  her  own  tender  wisdom  to  give 
us  the  assurance  of  strength  and  hope.  Though 
we  be  tied  and  bound  by  the  chain  of  our  sins, 
the  Epistle  tells  us  of  a  Free  City,  the  mother 
of  us  all, — ^Jerusalem  which  is  Above,  whereof 
we  are  the  children  and  the  citizens.  Though  we 
have  starved  our  brothers,  the  Gospel  tells  us 
of  Him  Who  fed  the  Five  Thousand  and  Who 
shall  feed  them,  and  us;  it  promises  food  for  body 
as  for  soul,  and  carries  to  every  devout  heart  the 
all-comforting  suggestion  of  the  Eucharistic 
Feast. 

Then,  having  assured  satisfaction  for  those  two 
primal  needs.  Freedom  and  Nourishment,  the 
Church  turns  her  children  on  Passion  Sunday  to 
face  the  Holy  Cross.  **  Vexilla  Regis  Prodeunt,^' 
she  sings : 


130  Social  Teachings 

^*0  Tree  of  Grlory,  Tree  most  fair, 
Ordained  those  holy  limbs  to  bear!  .  .  . 

As  by  the  Cross  Thou  dost  restore, 
So  rule  and  guide  us  evermore.'^ 

There  on  the  ^* Glory-Tree/'  as  the  old  Anglo- 
Saxon  poets  loved  to  call  it,  Love  Crucified  for- 
ever saves  the  world.  We  turn  away  from  our 
poor  puzzled  efforts,  from  our  weak  contrition, 
to  the  power  of  Him  Who  sinless  bare  our  sins 
in  His  own  Body:  away  from  sin  to  salvation, 
away  from  self  to  Christ.  Until  this  point,  the 
Christian  Year  has  held  us  to  contemplation  of 
His  words  and  deeds;  now  as  we  enter  Passion- 
Tide  she  bids  us  contemplate  His  very  Person,  in 
His  atoning  pain. 

The  Epistle  for  the  fifth  Sunday  in  Lent,  com- 
monly caHed  Passion-Sunday,  is  a  solemn  pas- 
sage from  Hebrews.  It  draws  to  a  climax  all 
those  deep  intuitions  of  sacrifice  which  have 
wrought  in  the  heart  of  the  race  from  prehis- 
toric times,  and  which  humanity,  however  mod- 
em and  enlightened,  tries  in  vain  to  escape.  In 
Him  Who  is  ^*  Himself  the  Victim  and  Himself 
the  Priest,''  these  prophetic  intuitions  find  their 
final  satisfaction.  *^  Christ  being  come  an  high- 
priest  of  good  things  to  come"    (even  of  the 


The  Season  of  Lent  131 

Kingdom  of  Justice  which  shall  be),  ^^ entered  in 
once  into  the  Holy  Place,  having  obtained  eternal 
redemption  for  us/'  We  must  be  saved  before 
we  can  be  saviours,  we  who  are  so  eager  to  reform 
the  world.  And  salvation  instantly  responds  to 
penitence.  In  the  Gospel  from  St.  John,  the  Mas- 
ter Himself  reassures  His  own,  by  averring  His 
eternal  Being  and  power. 

As  on  Passion  Sunday  we  enter  the  inner  sanc- 
tuary of  the  Christian  Year  and  of  our  holy  faith, 
the  veiled  Cross  on  the  altar  says  to  us:  **This 
darkness  is  the  light  of  the  World.'' 


CHAPTER  VI:    PASSION-TIDE 


Antiphon :  In  all  their  affliction  He  was 
afflicted,  and  the  angel  of  His  presence 
saved  them. 

V.  Let  this  mind  be  in  you 

E.  Which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Almighty  God,  we  beseech  Thee  gracious- 
ly to  behold  this  Thy  family,  for  which 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  contented  to  be 
betrayed  and  given  up  into  the  hands  of 
wicked  men,  and  to  suffer  death  upon  the 
Cross;  Who  now  liveth  and  reigneth  with 
Thee  and  the  Holy  Ghost  ever,  one  God, 
world  without  end.  Amen. 


CHAPTER  VI:     PASSION-TIDE 

TO  the  initiate,  Christianity  shines  supreme 
among  world-religions  as  the  Faith  of  the 
Cross ;  but  it  is  with  humble  dread  that  any  mind 
seeks  to  speak  to  others  of  the  central  mystery  of 
Love.  What  is  there  in  that  plain  symbol,  two 
pieces  of  wood  at  right  angles,  which  however 
casually  seen  quickens  adoration?  The  springs  of 
tears  are  loosened  by  the  shrines  encountered  in 
ancient  lands, — at  the  wayside,  in  Alpine  pastures, 
on  some  horror-stricken  battle-field.  But  a  tele- 
graph pole  at  twilight  will  often  do  as  well,  or 
the  accidental  snow-scars  on  a  mountain  slope 
or  the  upward  pointing  twigs  of  a  little  balsam 
tree:  as  indeed,  by  the  Tree  of  the  Cross  all 
trees  are  consecrate.  The  Christian  heart  loves 
to  find  crosses  everywhere:  to  see  in  the  centre 
of  the  Passion-Flower,  in  the  stars  of  the  northern 
sky,  the  Sign  of  our  redemption. 

Yet  in  spite  of  such  rare  hints  in  the  visible 
world,  nature  does  not  love  crosses.  Their  sharp 
limitations  are  alien  to  her  instinct  for  soft-flow- 
ing endless  lines,  and  forms  shaped  by  the  free 
necessities  of  their  being.    Whatever  dim  sugges- 

135 


136  Social  Teachings 

tions  of  sacrifice  and  surrender  the  natural  order 
may  contain,  the  Law  of  the  Cross  essentially 
transcends  nature.  And  in  the  insensible  slip- 
ping back  to  the  levels  of  natural  religion  which 
has  marked  the  last  century  and  a  half,  the  Cross 
has  been  largely  discredited.  Whole  religious 
systems  deliberately  discard  it,  and  an  intense 
revulsion  from  all  the  dogmatic  formulae  which 
once  gathered  around  the  Atonement  has  been 
experienced  even  by  the  orthodox. 

But  the  reaction  has  spent  itself.  The  law  of 
Sacrifice,  working  vitally  at  the  centre  of  con- 
scious personal  and  social  life,  is  recapturing  the 
allegiance  of  religious  minds. 

And  rightly;  for  here  is  the  consummation  of 
the  religion  of  the  Incarnation, — ^here,  where  the 
Infinite  is  revealed  at  the  last  stage  of  its  seK- 
■emptying  which  is  its  true  fulfillment,  claiming 
every  prerogative  of  finiteness.  In  vain  modern 
instinct  finds  the  Cross  ghastly,  painful,  intol- 
erable; in  vain  modem  theory  accounts  for  faith 
in  sacrifice  by  tracing  the  dim  gropings  of  the 
fear-stricken  primitive  mind.  No  evasion  is  pos- 
sible ;  the  Suffering  God  in  evident  reality  hangs 
forever  on  the  Rood  of  Time, — our  eyes  behold 
Him  there.  If  God  enters  the  temporal  order 
at  all, — ^which  He  must,  since  He  is  Love, — He  can 
not  stop  short  in  being  bom,  or  in  manifesting 


Passion-Tide  137 

the  divine  Nature  through  deeds  of  might  and 
mercy ;  ^  He  can  stop  nowhere  till  He  perfect 
His  infinitude  by  bowing  to  defeat  and  death,  till 
He  sound  the  depths  of  absolute  self -identification 
with  His  universe,  till  He  bear  our  sins  in  His 
own  Body  on  the  Tree,  and  appeal,  not  only  to 
our  adoration  but  our  compassion. 

So  Calvary  completes  Bethlehem.  It  shows 
forth  to  all  ages  God  entering  the  order  of  his- 
tory in  the  only  way  possible  to  Him  in  a  sin- 
sick  world. 

And  the  story  of  the  Entrance  is  in  this  stage 
as  elsewhere  entirely  simple  and  realistic.  If  one 
can  read  with  fresh  eyes  the  narrative  of  the 
Passion  as  the  Church  with  solemn  iteration 
spreads  it  before  us  from  every  Gospel  source, 
in  full  detail,  during  Holy  Week,  it  becomes  ap- 
pallingly evident  how  love  finds  itself  done  to 
death  by  the  normal  social  forces  which  are  at 
once  the  result  and  the  support  of  individual 
sins. 

Jesus  never  courted  death.  That  His  Agony 
has  redemptive  value  is  deep  and  mystic  truth, 
but  He  did  not  live  to  die,  as  Eoman  teaching 
has  sometimes  assumed ;  He  lived  to  establish  the 
Kingdom  of  God.     **To  this  end  have  I  been 

*S6e  note,  p.  51. 


138  Social  Teachings 

born," — ^not  that  I  might  save  men,  by  dying 
but  ^'that  I  should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth." 
Humanly  speaking,  He  wanted  to  carry  out  His 
purpose,  and  sweat  those  great  drops  of  blood 
because  He  saw  that  He  was  not  to  be  permitted 
to  do  so  in  the  way  that  He  had  hoped.  Since 
the  world  is  what  it  is,  His  witness  led  to  the 
Cross.  He  knew  this  too,  knew  it  at  least  from 
the  moment  of  His  transfiguration,  when  in  the 
excellent  glory  the  great  exponents  of  law  and 
prophecy,  of  righteous  order  and  holy  aspiration, 
of  tradition  and  hope,  spake  with  Him  of  His  de- 
cease which  He  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem. 

The  forces  which  crucify  love  are  rarely  those 
of  open  evil.  In  the  time  of  Jesus,  they  were 
the  due  ecclesiastical  authorities,  and  also  the  in- 
tellectuals, and  the  representatives  of  law  and 
government,  of  all  the  institutions  which  are  the 
honorable  basis  of  a  stable  and  respectable  civili- 
zation. And  they  were  no  worse  than  usual. 
Nevertheless,  they  combined  with  one  accord  to 
try  by  proper  legal  machinery  and  with  accredited 
decorum  to  execute  the  Lord  of  Glory.  He  was 
executed  as  a  common  criminal;  and  the  mob, 
probably  disappointed  and  angered  because  He 
had  refused  to  lead  a  popular  political  revolution, 
was  on  the  side  of  the  executioners. 

All  this  is  not  pleasant  to  contemplate,  and 


Passion-Tide  139 

it  is  quite  different  from  what  we  choose  and 
like  to  expect.  Men  are  always  looking  for  patent 
wickedness,  which  can  be  opposed  by  crystal-clear 
and  self-righteous  satisfaction.  With  what  sacri- 
ficial heroism  they  would  fight  it!  How  gladly 
would  they  suif er  the  last  penalty,  and  die  storm- 
ing its  dark  citadel!  But  that  is  not  how  things 
happen.  Indeed,  if  a  cause  appears  luminously 
and  picturesquely  right,  it  needs  to  be  very  care- 
fully examined,  for  it  is  under  suspicion.  The 
really  best  causes,  the  worth-while  causes,  the 
causes  of  the  future,  are  always  on  trial  at  the 
bar  of  the  world,  and  always  by  the  world  scorned 
and  condemaied. 

No  devils  appeared  to  condemn  and  crucify  the 
Lord  of  Love.  Cunning  devils!  They  worked 
through  human  instruments,  who  deceived  them- 
selves systematically,  and  all  meant  extremely 
well.  Even  Judas  was  a  disciple,  probably  no 
worse  than  an  impatient  one,  who  wanted  to  force 
the  hand  of  his  perplexing  leader.  As  for  the 
Pharisees  and  Sadducees,  Pilate,  Herod, — all  the 
long  pageant  of  figures  on  whom  falls  the  central 
shadow  of  history, — they  were  fairly  conscientious 
people,  with  mixed  motives  like  the  rest  of  us; 
they  all  told  themselves  that  they  acted  for  the 
best  good  of  the  community.  And  there  is  doubt- 
less a  reason  why  the  Lord  should  have  been 


140  Social  Teachings 

crucified  between  two  robbers.  The  reformer  who 
seeks  to  m(ake  all  things  new  is  always  confused 
by  the  public  with  the  agitator  and  thief  who 
would  ravage  society.  In  watching  those  who  are 
notorious  in  one's  own  day,  it  behooves  one  to 
be  careful. 

It  can  not  be  too  often  repeated :  the  academic, 
the  religious,  the  official,  and  the  popular  world, 
united  to  condemn  the  Saviour.  It  condemns  its 
saviours  still. 

Or  has  the  situation  changed  ?  One  pauses  and 
wonders.  Certainly  it  is  not  what  Christ  expected. 
We  are  very  comfortable  today,  we  Christians, 
and  inveterately  respectable.  Is  our  condition  at 
all  dangerous?  Is  there  a  bare  possibility  that  we 
have  slipped  over  to  the  side  of  Pilate  and  the 
Pharisees? 

No  one  demands  that  men  should  court  disgrace 
or  defeat,  or  exalt  pain  to  a  morbid  eminence 
as  they  have  sometimes  appeared  to  do.  Jesus 
never  did  any  of  these  things.  But  He  did  adopt 
an  attitude  which  brought  Him  straight  to  Gol- 
gotha, and  it  never  entered  His  mjind,  so  far  as  the 
evidence  shows,  that  the  Society  He  founded  or 
the  individuals  who  followed  Him  could  escape  a 
similar  fate.  The  sharp  distinction  which  set  His 
disciples  apart  from  the  world,  as  salt,  as  leaven, 
as  a  city  set  on  a  hill,  pervades  the  Gospels.    The 


Passion-Tide  141 

last  Beatitude,  which  promises  the  same  blessing 
as  to  the  poor  in  spirit,  is  for  the  persecuted,  and 
the  phrase  does  not  run  that  men  are  blessed  if 
they  are  persecuted  for  righteousness  sake,  but 
when, — a  fact  wfliich  has  caused  great  perplexity 
to  sundry  small  students  of  the  Bible,  who  were 
obliged  in  honesty  to  confess  that  they  were  never 
persecuted  at  all.  The  last  High-Priestly  prayer 
expressly  says  that  in  the  world  we  shall  have  trib- 
ulation, and  that  we  are  not  of  the  world  just  as 
Christ  is  not  of  the  world.  We  are  to  drink  of 
His  cup  and  be  baptized  with  His  baptism.  .  .  . 
Wherein  have  we  failed?  How  shall  we  be  bap- 
tized with  that  baptism  today  f 

Christ  dies,  be  it  noted,  not  as  Victim,  but  as 
Saviour.  The  Cross  shows  forth,  not  primarily 
endurance  or  patient  acquiescence  in  sacrifice,  but 
defiance  of  the  existing  social  and  religious  order. 
Passive  resistance  if  you  will :  *  ^  Put  up  again  thy 
sword  into  its  place'':  but  resistance  not  acquies- 
cence ;  and  resistance  to  the  uttermost,  lifted  high 
on  that  Hill  of  death  which  is  the  sky-line  of  the 
planet. 

The  entire  story  of  Holy  Week  breathes  this 
quality  in  Christ  of  defiance  and  resistance. 
Whether  He  head  on  Palm  Sunday  a  political 
demonstration  which  might  easily  have  turned  into 
popular  revolt,  or  overthrow  peaceful  commierce 


142  Social  Teachings 

in  the  Temple  courts,  or  publicly  denounce  in 
scathing  terms  the  sins  of  lawyers  and  religious 
leaders,  the  positive,  daring,  dangerous  nature  of 
His  actions  is  so  clear  that  one  can  not  wonder  if 
men  took  Him  for  a  demagogue.  His  opposition 
ended  in  defeat  and  open  shame.  But  it  is  the 
world's  salvation. 

'^Let  this  mind  be  in  you,  which  was  also  in 
Christ  Jesus,"  says  the  Palm-Sunday  Epistle: 
placed  by  the  Church  at  the  entrance  to  the  great 
Week,  to  warn  us  that  we  are  not  only  to  love  and 
adore  the  Captain  of  our  salvation  as  we  watch 
Him  made  perfect  through  suffering,  but  also  to 
be  conformed  to  His  likeness,  to  follow  in  His 
Way.  Let  this  mind  be  in  us  which  was  in  Christ 
Jesus.    Dare  we  say  Amen  to  that? 

There  is  another  aspect  of  Christ's  Passion,  per- 
haps more  familiar,  also  deep  in  social  import,  of 
which  one  would  not  for  a  moment  minimize  the 
sacred  reality.  This  is  the  aspect  dear  to  the 
secret  heart  of  all  Christian  people,  who  when  suf- 
fering or  oppressed  venture  to  take  to  themselves 
the  amazing  phrase  of  Scripture,  and  to  believe 
that  through  their  voluntary  offering  of  pain,  they 
may  ^'fiU  up  that  which  is  lacking  of  the  afflictions 
of  Christ,"  and  so  bear  their  heroic  part  in  the 
work  of  redemption.    Surely  their  faith  is  justi- 


Passion-Tide  143 

fied.  It  is  the  glory  of  Christianity  to  teach  that 
love  is  made  strong  in  weakness,  and  that  the  de- 
feated and  the  feeble  rather  than  the  valiant  and 
victorious  are  most  intimately  one  with  their  Lord. 
The  Napoleons  are  not  the  world's  real  saviours; 
no,  but  rather  the  obscure  and  patient  souls  bat- 
tered into  insignificance,  tortured  by  the  little 
woes  which  are  the  worst,  inhibited,  paralyzed, 
beaten,  forgotten. 

By  the  divine  paradox  of  the  Cross  we  know 
that  these  experiences  may  not  be  ignominious 
waste,  but  may  connote  the  richest  productive  and 
creative  values.  People  subject  to  them  need  suf- 
fer no  lack  of  inward  dignity,  need  hold  no  shrink- 
ing attitude  of  apology  or  shame:  it  is  theirs  in 
the  hidden  sanctuary  whence  flow  the  forces  of 
salvation,  to  be  united  with  the  Lord  of  Love  and 
Life.  Nay,  even  the  sinner,  if  he  is  penitent,  may 
lift  his  broken  but  cleansed  existence  upon  that 
Cross  *' where  He  in  flesh  our  flesh  who  made,  our 
sentence  bore,  our  ransom  paid." 

Men  have  long  tried  to  throw  discredit  on  the 
idea  of  vicarious  atonement,  but  they  can  not  dis- 
credit vicarious  suffering,  for  that  is  not  a  theory 
but  a  fact.  It  is  part  of  the  social  bond  which 
unites  the  human  race.  In  every  factory  where 
children  work,  in  every  devastated  village  of 
France  or  Armenia,  in  every  home  where  unnoted 


144  Social  Teachings 

sacrifice  or  pain  shines  gently  till  its  light  is  spent, 
the  innocent  suffer  for  the  guilty.  Christianity 
does  not  invent  this  suffering;  it  brings  consola- 
tion by  investing  with  a  possible  spiritual  glory 
what  was  often  taken  by  Pagan  life  as  a  badge 
of  shame.  Vicarious  suffering  is  sure  to  prevail 
more  and  more  as  sympathy  widens  and  vibra- 
tions pass  more  readily,  as  they  begin  to  do,  from 
group  to  group.  The  fortunate  are  not  excluded 
from  this  privilege,  since  the  Son  of  God  was  not. 
^^ Agonies  are  one  of  my  changes  of  garments," 
says  Walt  Whitman:  '^I  do  not  ask  the  wounded 
person  how  he  feels,  I  myself  become  the  wounded 
person."  ^  To  '^become  the  wounded  person"  is 
the  chief  hidden  comfort  of  many  who  live  per- 
force at  ease,  with  the  joys  of  Nature,  love,  work 
and  art  healthfully  open  to  them,  while  yet  their 
hearts  are  bowed  under  the  burden  of  the  cost  of 
these  good  things  to  their  brothers  who  labor.  In 
the  secret  steady  pain,  ever  present  though  of 
course  often  subconscious,  in  which  the  life  of  the 
just  man  when  he  is  tenderhearted  must  today  be 
passed,  lies  the  earnest  of  a  better  future. 

To  Christian  thought,  the  suffering  of  the  inno- 
cent, whether  voluntary  or  enforced,  is  not  futile. 
The  last  ignominy  of  uselessness  does  not  rest  on 
it ;  perhaps  always,  surely  whenever  the  voluntary 

*  Whitman:  Song  of  Myself. 


Passion-Tide  145 

element  enters,  it  is  the  seed  of  expiation  from 
which  the  Tree  of  Healing  shall  spring.  By  up- 
lifting vicarious  suffering  into  potential  vicarious 
atonement,  the  Faith  of  the  Cross  releases  men 
from  one  of  the  most  cruel  burdens  which  oppress 
their  mortal  destiny.  0  marvel  of  heavenly  grace, 
which  transforms  the  anguish  of  the  world  into 
its  redemption! 

But  to  recognize  this  transformation  is  not  to 
become  reconciled  to  cruelty  and  wrong.  If  we 
yield  to  that  temptation,  we  entangle  ourselves 
in  one  of  the  cleverest  and  subtlest  webs  ever 
woven  by  the  Adversary  for  the  beguiling  of  the 
faithful.  Christianity  a  fatalistic  acquiescence  in 
circumstance,  a  morbid  exaltation  of  pain !  How 
the  accusation  rings  through  modern  times,  from 
John  Stuart  Mill  to  Nietzsche !  And  how  often  the 
*' otherworldly"  attitude  of  Christians,  with  their 
flight  from  active  warfare,  has  corroborated  it! 
Yet  mere  submission,  or  even  escape  from  the 
struggle  with  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil  on 
spiritual  wings,  never  was  Christ's  way.  Had  it 
been,  there  had  been  no  Trial,  no  Cross,  no  revela- 
tion of  His  Eisen  Might.  In  the  still  tug-of-war 
between  good  and  evil,  good  always  turns  evjil  to 
its  own  purposes,  which  is  the  reason  why  this 
game  of  cosmic  forces  can  excite  the  angels '  laugh- 


146  Social  Teachings 

ter,  and  is  consonant  with  their  celestial  bliss: 
but  evil  is  evil  just  the  same,  and  to  be  overcome, 
if  may  be,  in  the  open. 

War,  for  instance,  may  purify  the  race,  or  at 
least  be  the  occasion  for  glorious  devotions,  but 
war  is  none  the  less  a  horrible  thing,  which  decent 
men  today  are  seeking  to  end  forever.  So  guiltless 
suffering,  especially  when  it  springs  from  the  fel- 
lowship of  love,  may  have  redemptive  power;  but 
the  causes  of  it  are  not  to  be  encouraged  for  that 
reason.  The  Cross  meets  the  problem  of  pain  by 
a  double  method.  It  exalts  the  devout  and  per- 
haps even  the  innocent  sufferer  to  a  mystic  union 
with  the  Saving  Victim  Who  opens  wide  the  gate 
of  heaven :  and  at  the  same  time  it  hurls  defiance 
in  the  only  possible  effective  way,  which  is  the 
way  of  all-subduing  love,  at  the  sin  which  has 
caused  that  pain. 

While  autocracies  ruled  the  world,  the  first 
nuethod  was  the  more  usual ;  sacrificial  faith  cen- 
tred naturally  in  the  ideal  of  endurance.  As  de- 
mocracy matures,  the  second  method  must  assert 
itself;  sacrificial  faith  must  centre  in  aggressive 
action.  We  must  become  Crusaders,  appropri- 
ating to  nobler  ends  all  the  old  metaphors  of  war- 
fare. And  it  is  to  the  Body  Corporate,  no  less 
than  to  private  persons,  that  the  call  is  sounding. 

Individuals  have  always  known  the  Divine  Se- 


Passion-Tide  147 

cret  in  its  double  aspect;  they  have  not  wholly 
failed  to  hear  the  summons  of  the  Cross  to  noble 
deed.  Defiance  of  wrong  has  not  been  lacking 
through  the  Christian  ages;  it  gives  the  Church 
her  martyrs,  the  world  some  at  least  of  her  heroes. 
But  it  has  never  fulfilled  the  social  will  of  the 
Master,  Who  habitually  viewed  His  followers  as 
a  group,  a  fellowship,  acting  with  perfect  solidar- 
ity in  a  distinctive  way.  The  apostle  could  see 
the  Cross  as  the  great  social  solvent,  breaking 
down  partitions,  of  race  and  sex  and  class,  of  bond 
and  free,  of  Jew  and  Gentile,  and  restoring  all 
men  to  unity  in  Him  Who  is  our  Peace.  Per- 
haps an  individualistic  interpretation  devoid  of 
any  vision  of  corporate  sacrifice,  is  the  reason 
why  Christendom  has  so  inadequately  realized  the 
grand  ideal;  why  in  this  year  of  grace  1921,  the 
principle  of  rational  internationalism  has  to  fight 
for  its  life,  and  the  class-struggle  threatens  bit- 
terer and  mlore  penetrating  war  than  any  the  race 
has  known. 

What  can  avert  the  threat  except  the  Cross  of 
Christ?  Men  have  tried  all  else,  this  they  have 
never  tried ;  nor  will  they  do  so  except  by  super- 
natural grace. 

**For  an  earlier  generation,  the  Cross  was  a 
redemptive  act  by  which  God  and  man  were  recon- 
ciled :  and  so  it  is,  but  the  Cross  of  Calvary  was. 


148  Social  Teachings 

such  an  act  only  because  it  contained  within  itself 
the  infinite  potentialities  which  history  is  slowly 
revealing.  Then  for  a  later  generation  it  came  to 
be  conceived  as  the  moral  power  for  reforming 
personal  character.  For  us  it  must  be  the  over- 
throwing of  barriers  and  the  reconstruction  of  a 
new  order  of  social  and  national  life."  ^ 

The  new  life  for  which  men  long  will  not  come 
without  cost.  Sacrifice  alone  can  bring  it  to  the 
birth.  Individual  sacrifice,  forever  necessary,  is 
insufficient  in  these  days  of  group  action,  involved 
in  the  free  movements  of  democracy.  Corporate 
sacrifice  is  essential  to  the  redemption  of  the  body 
politic.    In  what  direction  can  it  be  looked  for! 

Three  possibilities  suggest  themselves:  the 
sacrifice  of  a  class,  of  a  nation,  of  a  Church.  Con- 
sider each  in  turn. 

Class-sacrifice :  why  not?  In  the  modem  pres- 
sure toward  socializing  and  equalizing  wealth, 
imagine  the  propertied  and  privileged  classes  tak- 
ing the  lead,  under  the  impulse  of  a  new  chivalry; 
supporting,  nay  initiating  legislation  which  would 
destroy  their  every  privilege.  Picture  the  people 
who  miake  war-profits  proposing  schemes  of  tax- 
ation to  absorb  those  profits  entirely;  owners  of 

*W.  Orchard:  The  Outlook  for  Religion,  p.  193.  Punk  & 
Wagnalls,  1918. 


Passion-Tide  149 

large  fortunes  inventing  laws  for  restraint  of  the 
methods  by  which  such  fortunes  can  be  made,  and 
endorsing  the  tendencies  deeper  than  laws  which 
will  render  disparities  of  wealth  impossible. 
Picture  great  corporations  declining  to  use  non- 
union labor,  hastening  to  give  labor  a  share  not 
only  in  profits  but  in  control,  and  facing  gladly 
all  the  dislocation,  temporary  loss,  and  incerti- 
tude implied  in  the  new  experiments  in  industrial 
democracy.  In  a  word,  picture  all  well-to-do  folk, 
full  of  social  compunction  and  prophetic  zeal,  in- 
sisting that  it  be  given  unto  the  last  as  unto  the 
first,  albeit  they  represent  the  *^ first,''  and  joy- 
ously establishing  the  universal  poverty  which 
alone  can  inherit  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  and 
which  in  a  very  literal  sense  must  probably  ac- 
company the  creation  of  the  commonwealth  of 
Christian  dreams. 

Now  all  this  is  not  nearly  so  impossible  to  im- 
agine as  it  would  have  been  ten  years  ago.  Faint 
instances  of  such  spirit  and  attitude  can  be  found, 
quite  widely  spread :  in  the  proposals  of  a  group 
of  Quaker  employers,  in  the  magnanimous  poli- 
cies of  many  individual  manufacturers,  in  the 
rapid  diffusion  of  the  new  ideas  of  shop  commit- 
tees and  industrial  control.  It  is  true  that  Fear, 
a  stem  but  sometimes  salutary  schoolmaster,  has 
something  to  do  with  this  apparent  change,  as 


150  Social  Teachings 

men  of  concentrated  power  watch  the  advance 
of  the  Eed  Flag;  but  it  is  surely  legitimate  to  think 
that  the  long  education  in  social  compunction  and 
democratic  ideals  which  has  been  in  process  for 
the  last  century  and  a  half,  has  something  more. 
Nor  may  we  brand  all  hesitation  and  industrial 
conservatism  as  due  to  selfish  greed.  Far  from'  it : 
the  trustee's  sense  of  responsibility  is  a  disin- 
terested impulse,  and  the  fear  lest  in  seeking  to 
remedy  rotten  construction  we  pull  down  the  whole 
building  and  leave  an  unsheltered  humanity  to 
cower  in  the  ruins,  is  ever  present  to  most  minds 
in  control  of  social  affairs. 

Yet  with  all  allowances,  and  all  mitigations  and 
exceptions  made,  the  leading  features  of  the  spec- 
tacle when  seen  from  a  certain  distance,  are  unmis- 
takable. The  classes  in  possession  appear  obsti- 
nately clinging  to  their  every  prerogative :  capital- 
istic interests  manipulating  politics  behind  the 
scenes,  manufacturers  repeating  their  old  parrot 
cry,  *' nothing  to  arbitrate,"  wealth  and  privilege 
everywhere  righteously  shocked  at  any  hint  of  dis- 
turbance of  the  status  quo,  ^'Aliens"  from  every 
class  will  doubtless  combine  in  any  onward  move- 
ment ;  that  a  class  as  a  whole  should  pass  a  self- 
denying  ordinance  and  legislate  its  privileges  out 
of  existence,  or  even,  with  an  impulse  of  disin- 
terested devotion,  limit  its  own  power  appreciably, 


Passion-Tide  151 

is  an  idea  to  be  entertained,  one  fears,  only  by 
philosophers  who  live  in  the  country  Through  the 
Looking  Glass.  One  does  not  need  to  be  an 
economic  determinist  to  despair  of  any  class-sacri- 
fice on  a  large  scale. 

The  unchristian  doctrine  of  the  class-struggle 
unluckily  has  history  on  its  side.  Proletarian  dic- 
tatorship, abhorrent  to  most  Anglo-Saxons,  finds 
justification  in  its  own  eyes,  from  the  honest  con- 
viction that  no  substantial  justice  is  to  be  looked 
for  from  classes  in  possession.  And  those  who 
hate  the  theory  worst  are  helpless  to  point  out 
instances  on  a  large  scale  where  any  class  has  ever 
acted  of  its  own  free  will  against  its  own  interests. 

Well  then,  how  about  the  sacrifice  of  a  nation? 
A  crucified  state :  waiving  its  own  claims  in  favor 
of  the  prosperity  of  its  late  enemy  or  even  of  its 
allies. 

''I  confess  that  I  dream  of  the  day  when  an 
English  statesman  shall  arise  with  a  heart  too 
large  for  England,  having  courage  in  the  face  of 
his  countrymen  to  assert  of  some  suggested  policy : 
^This  is  good  for  your  trade,  it  is  necessary  for 
your  domination,  but  it  will  vex  a  people  farther 
off ;  it  will  profit  nothing  to  the  general  humanity ; 
therefore  away  with  it!'  .  .  .  When  a  British 
minister  dares  to  speak  so,  and  when  a  British 
public  applauds  him  speaking,  then  shall  the  na- 


152  Social  Teachings 

tion  be  so  glorious  that  her  praise,  instead  of  ex- 
ploding from  within  from  lond  civil  mouths,  shall 
come  to  her  from  without,  as  all  worthy  praise 
must,  from  the  alliances  she  has  fostered  and  from 
the  populations  she  has  saved. "  ^  So,  in  mid  nine- 
teenth century,  wrote  the  woman-seer  Mrs.  Brown- 
ing. 

^^If  it  is  not  beneath  the  Cross  of  Jesus  that  na- 
tions will  lay  down  their  arms,  it  may  be  by  revo- 
lution among  the  armies  and  rebellion  among  the 
workers.  If  we  can  not  secure  the  ending  of  War 
by  the  blood  of  the  Cross,  other  blood  may  flow 
which  will  not  cleanse,  but  only  cry  out  for  blood 
the  more. ' '  ^ 

It  is  entirely  possible  to  conceive  a  nation  dis- 
carding the  wisdom  of  this  world  in  favor  of  treat- 
ment of  a  hostile  power  with  the  most  energetic 
policies  which  love  could  invent:  so  full  of  mag- 
nanimous and  unselfish  solicitude  for  the  general 
welfare  that  it  could  interpret  the  Mind  of  Christ 
to  the  whole  world.  Suppose  the  policies  of  love 
to  fail,  as  they  probably  would  for  a  time, — ^pic- 
ture the  nation  exalting  itself  by  the  common  will 
to  a  Cross  of  shame;  accepting  national  defeat 
even  to  the  point  of  subjection,  and  loss  of  all  its 

*Mrs.  Browning:   Poems  Before  Congress.    Preface. 
*  Orchard:  The  Outlook  for  Eeligion,  p.  250. 


Passion-Tide  153 

economic  ambition  and  political  pride.  .  .  .  No, 
one  has  certainly  not  seen  that  picture  in  the  after- 
war  negotiations :  to  be  entirely  frank,  few  people 
would  want  to. 

Why  not,  would  take  long  to  discuss.  But  turn 
away  from  these  two  conceptions,  one  unlikely,  the 
other  distasteful,  and  try  again.  Consider  the  pic- 
ture of  a  crucified  Church. 

**It  may  need  a  crucified  Church  to  bring  a  cru- 
cified Christ  before  the  eyes  of  the  world" :  ^  that 
is  the  end  of  the  quotation  from  England  given  on 
a  preceding  page.  And  an  echo  comes  from 
America : 

'^What  can  the  Church  do  to  be  saved?  is  a 
question  which  many  Churchmen  are  asking  them- 
selves, and  the  answer  comes  strangely  close  to 
the  New  Testament  parallel.  The  apostolic 
order,  the  deposit  of  faith,  the  rule  of  life,  and 
all  the  traditions  of  the  past, — all  these  she  has 
carefully  kept  from  her  youth  up,  but  there  still 
seems  to  be  something  lacking  to  the  fulfilment  of 
her  true  place  in  the  heart  of  the  world.  It  may  be 
that  she  still  needs  to  sell  what  she  has  and  give 
to  the  poor,  and  accept  her  Master's  Cross." 
''We  talk  of  the  Church  as  the  extension  of  the 
Incarnation,  but  just  as  the  latter  was  not  com- 

*  Orchard:   The  Outlook  for  Eeligion. 


154  Social  Teachings 

plete  until  Calvary,  so  the  Church  will  not  have 
completed  her  identification  until  she  has  given 
herself  completely  for  the  life  of  the  world."  ^ 

It  is  sadly  easy  to  regard  the  whole  Christian 
achievement  in  the  light  of  irony:  faint  and  far 
sounds  the  call  of  the  Cross  in  Christian  ears.  Our 
salt  has  lost  its  savor,  our  light  is  very  dim,  our 
city  is  set  on  no  hill,  but  in  philistine  comfort 
among  the  cities  of  the  plain.  The  Church  has 
become  all  but  indistinguishable  from  the  world. 
With  terror  we  remember  how,  in  the  first  century, 
Church  conspired  with  nation  to  put  Jesus  to 
death.  Let  us  passionately  resolve  that  history 
shall  not  repeat  itself.  The  mind  may  well  dwell 
for  a  moment  on  the  haughty  Church  of  the  middle 
ages,  still,  in  these  later  days,  clinging  desperately 
to  the  phantom  of  her  temporal  power:  on  her 
wealthy  prelates,  her  vast  endowments,  her  bitter 
fight  for  suprem^acy  with  temporal  rulers.  Since 
the  Eeformation,  the  picture  is  in  some  respects 
less  dark ;  yet  still  the  good  works  of  the  Church 
climg  like  a  millstone  around  her  neck  as  she 
struggles  for  freedom.  It  is  for  their  sakes  that 
many  of  her  excellent  officials,  succumbing  to  the 
Temptation  in  the  Wilderness,  compromise  with 
the  Powers  that  Be. 

And  then,  let  us  picture  the  Church,  the  mystical 

*  Right  Reverend  Paul  Jones. 


Passion-Tide  155 

Body  of  Christ,  His  own  Body  wherein  He  still 
bears  the  sins  of  the  world.  The  Church  as  she 
might  be :  no  longer  watchful  over  her  own  pre- 
rogatives or  possessions,  even  for  the  sake  of  her 
missions  or  her  charities;  watchful  rather  to 
gather  her  children  from  every  nation  into  one 
great  unity  of  love,  that  they  may  live  by  a  law 
which  the  world  denies :  bound  to  follow  that  law 
literally  in  political,  social,  religious,  industrial  re- 
lations,— and  to  take  the  consequences  when  active 
obedience  is  rendered  impossible.  Let  her  fling 
one  mighty  challenge  to  the  principles  which  have 
wrecked  the  nations.  Let  her  find  the  forces  of 
this  world  opposing  and  persecuting  her;  not  as 
now,  endorsing  her  or  seeking  her  favor.  Let  her 
be  decried,  repressed,  ridiculed,  by  intellectual 
leaders,  commercial  magnates,  religious  authori- 
ties. Let  her  stubbornly  decline  the  compromises 
they  offer, — cry  aloud  in  the  wilderness  to  sus- 
picious and  secretive  nations  the  law  of  candor, 
to  hostile  peoples  the  law  of  forgiveness,  to  rival 
interests  the  law  of  love.  And  then  let  her  wel- 
come the  results  sure  to  follow,  and  take  the 
eleventh  chapter  of  Hebrews  as  the  Magna  Carta 
of  her  liberties. 

Could  the  Church  boldly  adopt  this  line  of 
action,  she  would  indeed  be  filled  with  citizens  of 
that  Jerusalem  which  is  above,  the  mother  of  the 


156  Social  Teachings 

free, — citizens  refusing,  however  tested  and 
wracked,  to  be  disloyal  to  their  native  land.  In 
this  manner,  Christianity  might  regain  reality  and 
save  the  world.  But  if  she  remains  in  future  as 
in  past  cautious,  hesitant,  conventional, — if  she 
bows  under  the  weight  of  Custom,  ^' heavy  as  frost 
and  deep  almost  as  life," — then  indeed  she  is  in 
fearful  peril,  as  her  Master  warned.  Worse  than 
this, — for  to  do  her  justice,  she  can  rise  above 
thoughts  of  her  own  salvation, — unless  she  follow 
Hiim  along  His  way  of  pain,  the  Cross  whereon 
Love  reaches  out  its  arms  may  cease  to  be  the 
centre  of  the  world's  landscape. 

Yet,  no!  For  it  is  God  as  well  as  Man  who 
hangs  thereon.  Corporate  sacrifice,  of  nation, 
class  or  Church  might  save  the  world ;  but  if  we 
fail  Him,  He  will  not  fail  us.  Christ  is  God  and 
Man :  the  Church  is  Christ  and  clay.  In  the  eternal 
depths  of  boundless  love,  the  eternal  mystery  of 
redemption  proceeds  forever,  and  the  Lamb  is 
slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.  We  have 
not  entered  the  Holy  of  Holies  in  dwelling  on  our 
union  with  the  Passion  and  the  sacrifice  of  Christ ; 
in  a  way  we  have  been  claiming  too  much  for  our- 
selves; not  more  than  He  bids  us  claim,  indeed, 
but  more  than  we  shall  attain.     Once  more  we 


Passion-Tide  157 

remind  ourselves,  that  in  Passion-Tide  we  turn 
from  self  to  the  Saviour.  He  has  trodden  the 
winepress  alone  and  of  the  people  there  was  none 
with  Him.  He  looked  and  there  was  none  to  help ; 
and  He  wondered  that  there  was  none  to  uphold. 
Wherefore  Bis  own  arm  brought  salvation.  He 
was  once  offered  to  bear  the  sins  of  many.  Then 
said  He,  Lo,  I  come,  to  do  Thy  Will,  0  God.  By  the 
which  will  we  are  sanctified,  by  the  offering  of  the 
Body  of  Jesus  Christ  once  for  all. 

The  law  of  holy  social  life  is  the  law  of  sacri- 
fice ;  but  we  men  who  would  redeem,  all  need  re- 
demption. Only  sinlessness  has  power  perfectly 
to  save,  and  till  the  Church  is  free  from  sin,  she 
will  be  Crucifier  as  well  as  Crucified.  These  are 
the  deep  thoughts  to  which  we  are  summoned  by 
the  Epistles  of  Holy  Week.  Sacrifice,  revealed  in 
the  finite  order,  drawing  to  its  law  all  that  would 
restore  the  race  to  its  heritage,  can  be  fulfilled 
only  in  the  Heart  of  God.  It  is  a  social  principle 
only  because  it  is  a  divine  fact.  Only  strength 
from  the  Crucified  God  can  enable  men,  whether 
in  personal,  international  or  industrial  rela- 
tions, to  die  to  those  natural  impulses  of  self -pro- 
tection and  self-expansion  which  are  so  plausible 
and  fierce,  and  having  passed  through  the  grave 
and  gate  of  death  to  rise  to  a  joyous  resurrection. 


158  Social  Teachings 

But  if  we  fail  to  be  wholly  *4ii-oned"  with  Him 
upon  the  Cross,  ours  may  at  least  be  the  part  of 
those  who  watch  at  the  foot,  not  in  derision  but 
in  love  and  grief.  Though  the  Church  thrice  deny 
with  Peter,  yet  she  may  repent  with  Peter,  who 
was  her  first  Primate.  Though  she  sleep  like  the 
disciples  at  Gethsemane,  she  may  yet  stand  gazing 
with  the  Holy  Women  at  the  Sacred  Tree.  In  her 
wealth  and  prosperity,  even,  Christ  will  not  exile 
her  f  rom<  His  Passion ;  albeit  the  one  sad  privilege 
of  that  rich  man,  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  ^^who  also 
was  His  disciple,"  was  to  prepare  His  Body  for 
the  grave.  .  .  .  Only  from  the  Judas-role,  Good 
Lord,  deliver  her! 

The  Seven  Words,  in  like  manner,  are  spoken 
to  us  before  they  can  be  spoken  by  us.  It  is  we 
who  know  not  what  we  do,  and  who  may  therefore 
be  forgiven.  To  our  penitence  comes  the  promise 
of  fellowship  in  Paradise :  we  receive  the  exquisite 
command  to  form  one  family.  In  our  awestruck 
presence,  dying  Love  cries  forth  His  thirst  for 
souls.  His  darkness  of  desolation,  His  conscious- 
ness of  achievement,  and  commends  Himself  to 
Love  Undying.  And  if  at  all  these  points  we  find 
also  example  and  model  for  our  own  attitude 
toward  enemies  and  penitents  and  friends,  toward 
pain,  despair  and  work,  we  know  in  our  bitter  im- 
perfection and  our  failure  to  share  His  redeeming 


Passion-Tide  159 

anguish,  that  what  we  can  not  do,  God  in  Christ 
achieves,  so  that  we  too  may  enter  into  the  Mys- 
tery, not  as  saved  alone  but  also  as  saviours  in 
our  measure.  For  by  one  offering,  He  hath  per- 
fected forever  them  that  are  sanctified. 

Thus  social  Christianity  is  rooted  in  the  Catho- 
lic faith:  thus,  obedient,  we  turn  from  man  to 
God,  from  our  sins  to  our  Eedeemer. 

Turn  in  the  confidence  of  certain  hope.  The 
Sacrament  of  Unity,  wherein  we  are  one  Bread, 
but  in  expectation.  Once  more,  and  most  im- 
Church  for  all  ages,  not  in  submission  or  despair, 
but  in  expectation.  Once  more,  and  most  im- 
pressively, is  sounded  in  the  Gospel  for  Wednes- 
day of  Holy  Week,  and  in  the  Epistle  for  Holy 
Thursday,  the  note  of  the  Kingdom  to  be.  At  the 
very  moment  when  the  Church  bids  us  commem- 
orate the  perpetuity  of  sacrifice,  in  the  institution 
of  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  she  reminds  us  that 
such  sacrifice  is  ^^Till  He  come."  Death  is  the 
earnest  of  life,  sacrifice  of  victory.  Nourished  by 
that  Heavenly  Food,  let  us  leap  to  the  Cross  in 
the  heroic  spirit  of  old  Anglo-Saxon  poetry,  as- 
sured that  here  is  no  sign  of  accepted  defeat, 
but  the  pledge  of  that  coming  Kingdom  of  the 
Father,  where  Christ  shall  once  more  eat  of  the 
fruit  of  the  Vine  with  His  beloved,  in  the  Festival 
of  Fellowship. 


CHAPTER  VII:  EASTER-TIDE 

Antiphon:    He  was  seen  of  them  forty- 
days,    speaking   of  the   things   pertaining 
to  the  kingdom  of  God. 
V.  If  ye  then  be  risen  with  Christ 
R.  Set  your  affection  on  things  above. 

0  God,  Who  for  our  redemption  didst 
give  Thine  only  begotten  Son  to  the  death 
of  the  Cross,  and  by  His  glorious  resurrec- 
tion hast  delivered  us  from  the  power  of 
our  enemy ;  Grant  us  so  to  die  daily  from 
sin,  that  we  may  evermore  live  with  Him 
in  the  glory  of  His  resurrection;  through 
the  same  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 


CHAPTER  VII:  EASTER-TIDE 

EASTER  morning  dawns,  and  testifies  forever 
that  life  on  the  lower  level  of  Nature  can 
never  satisfy  hnman  need.  The  *^sky  behind  the 
sky"  must  send  its  messengers;  through  earthly 
atmosphere  must  break  the  heavenly  light. 

The  necessity  for  the  recurrent  witness  of  life 
from  above,  the  worthlessness  of  the  social  gospel 
without  the  spiritual, — this  is  the  first  lesson  of 
Easter  to  the  Christian.  Yet  in  the  awestruck 
penetration  to  new  planes  of  being,  fellowship 
is  not  for  a  moment  forgotten.  As  the  faithful 
wait  in  the  hush  of  Holy  Saturday,  love  reaches 
out  to  that  *^dim  place"  where  the  Lord  of  Life 
brings  release  to  the  expectant  multitudes  in 
prison.  On  no  scene  has  religious  art  dwelt  more 
tenderly  than  on  the  Harrowing  of  Hell ;  it  shows 
us  patriarchs,  prophets,  and  the  unknown  dead, 
pressing  rapturously  upward  on  the  summons  of 
Him  Who  descends  among  them  bearing  the  tri- 
umphant banner  of  the  Passion  that  can  redeem 
even  in  the  shades  beyond  the  tomb. 

Meanwhile,  the  Church  on  earth  in  her  more  an- 
cient rites  blessed  the  elements  of  the  natural 

163 


164  Social  Teachings 

order, — salt,  oil,  water  receiving  Sacramental 
power  at  her  hands.  She  listened  to  the  story  of 
the  first  creation,  now  recreated  in  the  Spirit; 
and  still  she  brings  her  children  to  the  font,  that 
they  may  be  buried  with  her  Lord  in  that  baptism 
which  is  death  to  sin  and  new  birth  to  holiness.  So 
the  myriads  of  the  Church  Expectant,  who  since 
the  beginning  of  history  have  gathered  in  the  land 
which  is  very  far  off,  meet  in  her  embrace  the 
generations  as  they  rise. 

In  the  morning  comes  the  spiritual  triumph  of 
life  immortal, — serene,  secret,  sweet  beyond  our 
dreams.  The  group-sense  is  present,  but  it  is  for 
once  secondary.  Intimate,  personal,  is  the  revela- 
tion. This  garden  at  dawn,  the  woman  turning  to 
meet  the  gardener  and  finding  the  Lord  of  the 
Garden  of  Souls,  the  beloved  Voice,  speaking  her 
own  name,  the  swift  response, — these  holy  joys 
were  not  only  for  Mary,  they  may  be  claimed  by 
every  child  of  man.  In  their  divine  and  homely 
simplicity  they  witness  to  the  exquisite  nearness 
of  earthly  life  and  the  life  that  is  unseen. 

But  Mother  Church  will  not  allow  us  to  lose 
ourselves  in  ecstasy  of  joy  and  praise.  In  the 
heart  of  the  mystical  glory  echo  once  more  her 
practical  commands.  How  many  have  found  the 
end  of  the  glorious  Easter  Collect  disappointing 


Easter-Tide  165 

and  tame?  *^ Almighty  God,  Who  through  Thine 
Only-Begotten  Son  Jesus  Christ  hast  overcome 
death  and  opened  unto  us  the  gates  of  everlasting 
life:  we  humbly  beseech  Thee  that  as  by  Thy 
special  grace  preventing  us,  Thou  dost  put  into 
our  hearts  good  desires ;  so  by  Thy  continual  help 
we  may  bring  the  same  to  good  effect"  .  .  .  The 
lyric  flight  which  bears  us  upward  on  its  anapestic 
beat  through  open  gates  to  the  eternal  realm,  ends 
with  reiteration  of  the  sober  needs  of  every  day. 

Mother  Church  is  very  wise. 

Through  the  Scriptures  for  Easter  week  and  the 
succeeding  Sundays  runs  first  and  foremost,  con- 
stant testimony  to  the  amazing  fact  of  the  Eesur- 
rection,  and  its  power  to  transform  the  disciples. 
But  mingled  with  this,  almost  anxiously  it  would 
seem,  are  humdrum  and  outspoken  moral  injunc- 
tions. The  Christian  mind  has  never  been  lost 
in  any  dazed  and  vaporous  curiosity  about  life  on 
other  planes.  As  shown  in  these  Epistles,  it 
dwells  on  the  prosaic  levels  of  ordinary  moral 
struggle, — a  region  far  from  beautiful  when 
viewed  in  the  solemn  radiance  of  the  eternal 
Easter.  Yet  that  purifying  radiance  is  streaming 
like  sunlight  into  the  hearts  of  the  faithful,  who 
unfold  like  flowers  in  the  Garden  of  God. 

For  the  Eisen  Life  is  to  be  manifest  in  that 
supreme  adventure, — ^making  people  good.     The 


i66  Social  Teachings 

creation  of  holiness  from  the  poor  frail  stuff  of 
human  nature  is  the  chief  concern  of  those  who 
worship  the  Eisen  Lord.  Character  may  never 
for  one  moment  be  neglected  for  the  sake  of  vi- 
sion; and  character,  as  Goethe  knew,  can  not  be  de- 
veloped in  solitude.  Nobody,  least  of  all  himself, 
knows  anything  about  the  character  of  the  con- 
templative and  solitary.  Character  is  a  social 
product,  evoked  and  tested  by  human  contacts, 
and  the  Easter  Epistles  keep  us  in  the  *^  Strom 
der  Welt." 

Sin,  in  the  first  Epistle  for  Easter  Sunday,  is 
described  with  almost  shocking  plainness.  In  the 
terrible  list,  the  two  old  enemies  fought  through 
Lent  are  stressed  once  more.  Fornication  and 
covetousness,  self-indulgence  and  acquisitiveness, 
— they  are  the  double  curse  which  rests  on  society 
to  this  day.  In  the  other  Easter  Day  Epistle,  Paul 
in  homely  metaphor  bids  us  purge  out  the  old 
leaven.  The  Epistles  for  Easter  Monday  and 
Tuesday  are  from  sermons  on  the  Eesurrection, 
the  first  by  Peter,  the  second  by  Paul.  ^  ^  Of  a  truth 
I  perceive  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons," 
says  Peter, — striking  that  obvious  though  radical 
note  with  evident  amaze.  It  took  a  vision,  in  ad- 
dition to  all  he  had  gone  through  and  all  he  had 
learned  from  the  Master,  to  teach  that  devout  Jew 
to  call  nothing  common  or  unclean. 


Easter-Tide  167 

John,  in  the  Epistle  for  the  first  Sunday  after 
Easter,  stresses  the  life-giving  power  of  faith; 
but  in  the  Epistles  for  the  second  and  third  Sun- 
days, Peter  returns  to  the  ethical  note :  Peter  was 
not  much  of  a  mystic.  Yet  he  rises  above  plati- 
tudes into  pure  Christian  air  when  he  insists  that 
if  we  are  unjustly  treated  for  doing  right,  we  shall 
be  not  only  patient,  but  glad  and  grateful.  Any 
Christian  who  has  experienced  even  a  little  the 
exultation  of  following  in  the  steps  of  Him  Who 
**also  suffered  for  us,"  knows  what  he  means. 
But  Peter's  most  provocative  admonition  is  when 
he  tells  those  set  free  in  Christ  to  submit  them- 
selves to  every  ordinance  of  man  for  the  Lord's 
sake.  People  who  have  a  lurking  admiration  for 
the  rebel,  and  are  inclined  at  times  to  defy  rather 
than  submit  for  the  Lord's  sake,  find  this  a  sweep- 
ing injunction,  and  are  tempted  to  remind  us  that 
Peter  was  never  an  intellectual  light  in  the  Apos- 
tolic family.  Nevertheless,  Peter  was  right  in 
his  basic  principle.  The  Christian  democrat  has 
to  realize  that  true  liberty  can  only  be  fulfilled 
by  voluntary  surrender  of  itself  to  the  common 
will.  And  when  Peter  says,  ^^ Honor  all  men,'' 
he  is  repeating  the  lesson  learned  on  the  house 
top  at  Joppa,  and  saying  a  broad  and  difficult 
thing. 

It  is  a  testinnony  to  the  lovely  unconscious  one- 


i68  Social  Teachings 

ness  of  the  Apostolic  mind,  that  St.  James,  in  the 
fifth  Easter  Epistle,  throws  out  offhand  a  wise  and 
glorious  phrase  about  liberty  which  expresses  all 
that  Peter  meant.  *'The  perfect  law  of  liberty," 
says  James,  and  all  Wordsworth  and  Burke,  all 
the  brooding  of  poets  and  philosophers  on  the 
great  theme  of  freedom,  is  implicit  in  the  words. 
Both  fourth  and  fifth  Epistles  are  from  this  most 
practical  of  the  apostles.  But  in  his  own  matter- 
of-fact  way,  James  is  as  mystical  as  John.  Very 
sensibly,  almost  cannily,  he  exhorts  us  to  be  swift 
to  hear  and  slow  to  speak,  to  keep  our  tempers  and 
our  decencies,  and  to  prove  our  faith  by  doing 
good.  The  fifth  Epistle  ends  with  his  famous 
definition  of  religion  in  terms  of  social  service, 
which  reads  like  a  motto  for  a  modern  school  of 
philanthropy.  And  all  the  while  he  knows  that 
the  good  gift  of  our  power  to  behave  properly  is 
from  above,  from  the  very  Father  of  Lights. 

Yes,  our  feet  are  on  the  ground.  Life  is  not  any 
more  romantic  nor  any  easier  because  Christ  has 
risen  and  our  affection  is  set  on  things  above. 
Nor,  in  one  sense,  is  life  especially  happy.  The 
tone  of  these  Easter  epistles  is  militant  and 
severe :  in  strange  contrast,  when  one  thinks  of  it, 
to  the  general  sentiment  of  the  season. 

Easter  is  a  Festival  for  all  the  world.  To  many 
people  it  means  the  confused  joy  of  Spring  stm- 


Easter-Tide  169 

shine,  bulbs  piercing  the  soil  with  their  green 
swords,  delicate  raiment,  and  release, — not  from 
the  Lenten  fast,  but  from  an  uneasy  sense  that 
fasting  may  be  going  on  somewhere.  A  jumble 
of  associations, — rabbits,  chickens  and  eggs 
among  them, — is  brought  to  memory  by  the 
sacred  season. 

The  Church  does  not  mind.  She  welcomes 
everybody  to  the  kind  of  innocent  joy  of  which 
he  is  capable,  and  hopes  that  some  ray  of  higher 
light  shines  through  the  most  trivial  and  ephem- 
eral pleasures,  and  the  most  cheap  and  facile 
sentiment.  But  for  her  own,  she  speaks  a  differ- 
ent language,  harsh  to  the  ear.  It  is  no  easy 
thing  to  realize  eternal  life,  in  time.  There  is 
the  world  to  overcome, — and  in  it  we  *  ^  shall  have 
tribulation'';  for  antithesis  between  the  world 
and  those  who  share  the  Eisen  Life  is  taken  for 
granted.  We  shall  weep  and  lament;  we  shall 
suffer  wrongfully  from  our  conscience  toward 
God.  No  smooth  prosperity,  no  facile  conform- 
ing to  current  standards,  is  consonant  with  the 
Easter  Peace. 

For  He  Who  says  ''Peace  be  unto  you,"  He 
Who  is  ever  beside  us  in  His  tenderness  and  His 
miight,  bears  the  wounds  of  the  Passion  in  HIands 
and  Feet  and  Side.  Out  of  the  great  anguish  of 
the  ages  comes  the  revelation  of  the  Eternal,  and 


170  Social  Teachings 

only  those  who  share  the  anguish  can  share  the 
Easter  joy.  ^^Ye  are  dead,"  says  the  apostle 
with  terrible  plainness  at  the  outset  of  the  season. 
Dead, — dead, — the  word  recurs.  The  lower  na- 
ture, the  members  that  are  upon  the  earth  are  to 
be  *' mortified," — a  fearful  phrase,  of  supreme 
significance, — ^by  those  whose  life  is  hid  with 
Christ  in  God.  Only  if  the  mcked  passions  which 
surge  upward  from  our  earthiness  are  buried, 
putrefied  into  nothing,  by  the  power  of  the  Christ 
Arisen,  can  we  ever  escape  them. 

^^Hail,  Queen  Wisdom,"  says  the  Poverello  of 
Assisi:  ^^May  the  Lord  save  thee  with  thy  sister 
holy  pure  Simplicity !  0  Lady,  holy  Poverty,  may 
the  Lord  save  thee  with  thy  sister  holy  Humil- 
ity!  ...  0  all  ye  most  holy  virtues,  may  the  Lord 
from  Whom  you  proceed  and  come,  save  you! 
There  is  absolutely  no  man  in  the  whole  world 
who  can  possess  one  among  you,  unless  he  first 
die."^ 

When  will  states  as  well  as  persons  learn  the 
lesson? 

All  the  time  in  the  Easter  Gospels  we  are  hear- 
ing marvellous  things,  unbelievable  things:  the 
episodes  of  the  Lord's  Appearance,  and  His  most 
precious  words  to  His  own.  How  He  is  the  Good 
Shepherd,  how  He  promises  the  joy  no  man  can 

*  Writings  of  St.  Francis:  Fr.  Paschal  Eobinson,  p.  78. 


Easter-Tide  171 

take  away,  how  He  bids  us  be  of  good  cheer  be- 
cause He  has  overcome  the  world.  And  always 
deeper,  clearer,  sounds  the  note  of  promise. 
Eevelation  is  not  closed ;  the  Spirit  shall  be  given, 
and  He  when  He  comes  shall  teach  us  all  things, 
and  shall  reprove  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteous- 
ness and  of  judgment.  Only  if  we  heed  the 
straightforward  morals  of  the  Epistles  have  we 
any  right  to  claim  the  joy  of  the  Eisen  Christ 
or  the  promise  of  the  Comforter. 

Are  there  any  further  direct  social  implications 
to  the  Easter  teaching? 

Of  a  surety.  For  if  we  really  believed  in  Im- 
mortality, we  should  reconstruct  all  our  social 
values.  And  if  men  have  always  needed  real 
belief  they  need  it  supremely  now.  The  contem- 
plation of  death  has  been  forced  on  them  as  never 
perhaps  before.  There  should  be  power  in  that 
contemplation  to  lift  classes  as  well  as  individuals 
I  quite  out  of  those  two  sins,  self-indulgence  and 
greed,  which  plunged  the  world  into  its  misery. 
We  dedicate  ourselves  anew  to  the  ends  for  which 
our  youth  have  died. 

And  to  that  Other  World  which  is  so  strangely 
and  suddenly  populous,  thought  is  irresistibly 
drawn.  Surely,  those  objects  for  which  men  laid 
down  earthly  life  are  dear  to  them  still.     One 


172  Social  Teachings 

can  not  conceive  them  slipping  into  a  ready-made 
heaven.  Our  conception  of  a  life  to  come  must 
escape  everything  static  or  passive;  it  must 
adjust  itself  to  a  state  in  which  many  handicaips 
are  doubtless  removed,  but  in  which  effort  to  ex- 
press love  through  ever-perfected  forms  nxust 
progress  vividly  forever.  Real  belief  in  a  heav- 
enly Commonwealth  with  real  people  in  it  would 
mean  a  tremendous  deal  to  life  here,  and  the  open- 
ing of  our  twentieth  century  vision  toward  the 
Eternal  must  help  us  who  are  of  the  ^'one  family, 
beneath,  above,"  to  play  our  part  like  men. 

But  though  the  war-crisis  has  accentuated  the 
need  of  faith,  it  has  not  created  the  need.  Immor- 
tality is  the  creed  of  social  hope,  and  in  this  light 
many  beside  Christian  writers  have  viewed  it. 
Dr.  Hyslop,  for  instance,  late  secretary  of  the 
American  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  has  an 
interesting  passage  in  his  book,  Life  After 
Death : 

*'The  belief  in  survival  reconciles  the  impera- 
tive of  conscience  with  the  limitations  under  which 
the  fulfilment  of  it  can  be  attained  in  this  life.  .  .  . 
Survival  gives  us  time.  .  .  .  Immortality  is  a 
pivotal  belief ;  that  is,  supporting  in  some  way  a 
number  of  other  beliefs  or  maxims  of  life  and  con- 
duct.   Besides  an  influence  on  the  individual  life, 


Easter-Tide  173 

it  has  also  a  great  significance  for  social  ethics. 
The  interest  in  it  may  be  largely  an  egoistic  one. 
It  is  not  always  so,  for  I  often  meet  with  those 
who  care  little  for  it  for  themselves,  but  they  pas- 
sionately desire  it  for  their  friends  or  those  they 
love.  It  thus  becomes  an  altruistic  instinct.  .  .  . 
Its  ethical  implications  do  not  stop  with  individual 
interest.  Survival  establishes  that  view  of  per- 
sonality which  enables  us  to  concentrate  emphasis 
on  the  rights  of  others  in  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence. On  the  materialistic  theory  *  .  .  the  indi- 
vidual would  be  tempted  to  sacrifice  all  other 
personality  to  his  own.  But  once  establish  the 
fact  that  personality  is  permanent,  and  we  have 
the  eternal  value  of  our  neighbor  fixed  upon  as 
secure  a  basis  as  our  own.  Man  need  not  stop 
with  the  pursuit  of  self-interest,  but  will  find  his 
salvation  in  the  social  affections  precisely  as 
taught  in  primitive  Christianity.  .  .  .  It  is  not 
that  we  can  directly  infer  the  system  of  social 
ethics  from  survival  or  the  permanence  of  person- 
ality, but  that  we  can  more  easily  connect  this 
ethics  with  a  stable  basis  and  reinforce  them 
[sic!]  by  the  fact  of  that  permanence.  The 
brotherhood  of  man  will  have  a  new  sanction,  one 
of  the  sanctions  it  received  in  its  earlier  associa- 
tion in  Christianity  with  the  immortality  of  the 


174  Social  Teachings 

soul.  Its  natural  synthesis  is  that  association.''^ 
Strong  testimony,  this,  against  the  patronizing 
assertion,  widely  current  in  Victorian  times,  that 
the  desire  for  life  beyond  the  grave  is  fathered  by 
human  egotism  as  it  is  mothered  by  human  delu- 
sion. The  ^^ altruistic  instinct,"  as  Dr.  Hyslop 
calls  it,  has  been  imntensely  enhanced  of  late. 
How  about  men  who  do  not  die  by  violence,  but 
live  out  their  allotted  span  on  dull  and  barren 
levels:  the  throngs  imprisoned,  by  our  stupidity 
rather  than  our  cruelty,  in  labor  which  brings  no 
refreshment  and  conditions  which  allow  no 
growth?  How  about  all  lives  thwarted  and  sup- 
pressed? When  the  soul  shows  no  prick  of  life 
above  the  earthly  surface,  as  happens  often 
enough  irrespective  of  class  or  circumstance,  the 
theory  of  conditional  immortality  may  suffice ;  but 
how  about  the  many  who  would  live  beautifully 
if  they  had  a  chance,  and  to  whom  that  chance  is 
denied?  In  the  future  of  our  dreams,  that  will 
not  happen ;  but  the  good  life  to  come  will  not  help 
the  throngs  who  lived  before  we  learned  to  set 
men  free, — slaves  in  ancient  Egypt,  serfs  in 
mediaeval  days,  modern  wage-slaves,  victims  of 
family  tyranny,  the  victims  everywhere. 

Undoubtedly,  there  was  a  time  when  belief  in 

*Life  After  Death:    James  H.  Hyslop,  Ch.  XL    E.  P.  Button, 
1918. 


Easter-Tide  175 

immortality  was  dangerous.  During  the  middle 
ages  it  probably  served  as  a  sedative,  and  may 
well  have  been  at  times  more  or  less  deliberately 
encouraged  for  that  purpose  by  the  ruling  classes, 
as  some  modern  radicals  insist.  For  the  most 
part,  however,  the  reaction  was  doubtless  uncon- 
scious. Oppressors  and  oppressed  alike  were  in- 
clined to  sink  back  into  lazy  acquiescence  in  life 's 
injustice — ^the  former  content  with  the  present 
hour,  the  latter  looking  for  heavenly  compensa- 
tion: and  the  revulsion  against  religion  which 
marked  the  social  revolt  of  the  last  century  may 
be  traced  in  part  to  the  scorn  this  tendency  in- 
spired. In  the  waning  twilight  of  faith  in  life 
eternal  grew  a  new  passion  for  justice  on  earth. 
Shade  is  good  for  little  plants ;  but  today  that  pas- 
sion has  struck  roots  too  deep  to  be  imperilled,  and 
it  can  be  trusted  in  the  sun. 

Still,  in  the  fiercely  earnest  propaganda  which 
goes  on  among  the  proletariat,  one  hears  the  old 
cry:  that  the  Church  deludes  men  with  insub- 
stantial promises  of  future  bliss,  to  cut  the  nerve 
of  effort  and  of  self-defense.  And  a  larger  pro- 
portion than  we  realize  of  the  anti-clerical  bitter- 
ness which  pervades  the  socialist  movement  may 
spring  from  this  exasperated  conviction.  Even 
philosophic  writers  insist  that  Christianity  is  a 
servile  morality,  adapted  for  the  consolation  of 


176  Social  Teachings 

slaves  rather  than  for  the  inspiration  of  strong 
men.  But  Christian  radicals  scout  the  idea. 
They  know  that  faith  in  immortality  is  in  truth 
now  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  ''the  sanction  for 
the  brotherhood  of  .man.''  Our  hands  are  set  to 
build  Jerusalem  on  earth,  and  as  we  slowly  drag 
stone  on  stone,  while  the  generations  to  our  sor- 
row wait  still  disherited  without  the  gates  of 
that  free  city,  it  is  right  to  lift  our  hearts  for 
incentive,  fortitude  and  comfort,  to  that  Jerusa- 
lem which  is  Above,  where  there  shall  be  no  decay, 
no  leading  into  captivity  and  no  complaining  in 
the  streets,  where  happy  citizens  shall  rejoice  in 
fullness  of  life  and  health  and  in  such  honorable 
furtherance  of  all  noble  ends  as  only  dreams  can 
now  foreshadow. 

^'A  lovely  city  in  a  lovely  land. 
Whose  citizens  are  lovely,  and  whose  king 
Is  very  Love ;  to  whom  all  angels  sing, 

•  •••••• 

To  whom  all  saints  sing  crowned,  their  sacred 

band 
Saluting  Love  with  palm  branch  in  their  hand. 
And  thither  thou,  beloved,  and  thither  I 
May  set  our  heart  and  set  our  face  and  go 
Faint  yet  pursuing,  home  on  tireless  feet."^ 

^Christina  Rossetti. 


Easter-Tide  177 

Such  thoughts,  however,  legitimate  and  helpful 
though  they  be,  are  not  dwelt  upon  by  the  Church 
in  the  appointed  Scriptures.  These,  as  has  been 
said,  keep  us  strictly  to  earth,  at  her  homeliest 
and  most  difficult.  The  Eisen  Lord,  with  the 
marks  of  His  Passion  on  Him,  moves  among  His 
own  in  the  old  scenes,  in  the  familiar  ways.  As 
they  tread  dusty  roads,  as  they  eat  their  suppers, 
as  they  ply  their  trades ;  in  rooms  where  they  were 
wont  to  gather,  or  by  the  lake  whose  waters  have 
known  the  tread  of  His  holy  Feet,  suddenly  He 
is  with  them.  And  what  He  has  to  say  is  what 
He  had  said  long  ago,  what  He  is  saying  still. 
Concerning  the  intercourse  of  those  Forty  Days 
only  brief  hints  are  given;  but  one  subject  is 
clearly  singled  out  as  the  chief  theme  of  the  talk : 
He  was  with  them,  ^^  speaking  of  the  things  per- 
taining to  the  Kingdom  of  God. ' ' 

This  is  really  just  what  we  should  expect,  seeing 
that  the  establishment  of  the  Kingdom  had  been 
His  chief  concern  during  His  ministry.  In  all 
probability,  none  of  our  dominant  purposes  will 
be  effaced  by  death ;  or  if  they  be  such  that  they 
must  perish  with  the  body,  we  shall  be  quite  lit- 
erally lost  souls  in  the  other  world.  Jesus,  having 
passed  through  the  grave  and  gate  of  that  great 
experience,  is  still  bent  as  ever  on  training  his 
followers  to  create  the  Beloved  Community.    The 


1 78  Social  Teachings 

bitterness  of  Gethsemane  had  been  that  He 
seemed  frustrated  in  that  work.  Perfect  Hu- 
manity had  to  know  frustration,  otherwise  Christ 
could  not  have  been  our  Brother;  but  the  will 
*4n-oned"'  with  God's  Will  is  never  defeated,  and 
His  will  proved  to  be  God's  Will  after  all. 

Probably  they  would  rather  have  had  Him  talk 
of  something  else.  They  were  reverent  Jews, 
and  they  had  walked  some  time  with  Jesus,  so 
that  what  we  call  the  supernatural  would  have 
been  taken  by  them  more  quietly  than  by  us.  That 
He  whom  they  loved  was  with  them  again,  doubt- 
less filled  their  hearts  and  minds.  At  the  same 
time,  being  human,  they  must  have  longed  to  ask 
Him  a  hundred  questions  about  those  mysteries 
beyond  the  veil  which  the  human  heart  down  the 
ages  so  longs  to  fathom.  But  He  did  not  talk  to 
them  about  Paradise, — the  Penitent  Thief  knew 
more  about  that  than  St.  John  was  allowed  to 
know.  He  talked  about  the  Kingdom  of  God,  the 
blessed  fellowship,  the  ideal  society,  which  from 
the  day  He  first  spoke  in  a  Galilean  synagogue 
had  been  the  burden  of  His  teaching.  We  associ- 
ate the  teaching  of  the  Kingdom  with  the  bright 
times  of  the  early  ministry,  and  easily  forget  that 
it  belongs  just  as  much  to  these  last  mystical 
phases  of  Christ's  intercourse  with  His  disciples. 
Yet  it  does.    This  is  the  purpose  He  entrusts  to 


Easter-Tide  179 

them,  this  the  Gospel  which  they  are  to  carry  to 
the  uttermost  ends  of  the  earth. 

Just  what  was  said  in  these  conversations  of 
the  Master  with  His  happy  friends,  we  do  hot 
know.  They  were  conversations,  not  dialogues, 
for  the  most  part.  Once  in  a  while,  a  blessed  per- 
son sees  Him  alone:  Peter;  the  Magdalen;  and, 
surely,  though  Holy  Writ  knows  naught  of  it.  His 
mother.  But  the  group  life  goes  on,  and  it  is  in 
and  through  the  group  that  He  is  working. 

Some  people  think  that  He  is  telling  the  apostles 
how  to  organize  the  Church.  Possibly ;  we  like  to 
sing: 

**I  love  Thy  Kingdom,  Lord, 
The  house  of  Thine  abode, 
The  Church  our  blessed  Eedeemer  saved 
With  His  own  precious  blood." 

And  the  ecclesiastical  definition  has  been  current 
from  early  times.  But  there  is  scant  basis  for  it 
in  the  Bible,  and  the  idea  of  the  Kingdom  is  be'- 
littled  when  confined  to  the  imperfect  and  partial 
expression,  in  the  Church  visible,  militant  here 
below.  The  Church  is  doubtless  the  natural,  the 
appointed  instrument  of  the  Kingdom,  but  it 
would  take  an  inveterate  optimism  to  identify  the 
two. 


i8o  Social  Teachings 

The  ^^dear  truth"  of  the  Kingdom  was  to  the 
Jews,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the  hope  of  a  holy 
society  here  on  earth  of  which  Messiah  ehould  be 
king.  Probably  before  the  Passion  the  disciples 
had  not  risen  above  a  national  patriotism;  the 
Kingdom  was  to  be  exclusively  for  their  own 
suffering  race.  But  the  Master  had  been  busy 
replacing  the  nationalistic  by  the  social  concep- 
tion, always  tacitly,  at  times  explicitly;  nor  can 
it  be  doubted  that  it  was  the  social  conception 
which  He  now  sought  to  establish  in  those  hearts 
who,  filled  with  Eesurrection  joy,  listened  to  the 
Voice  of  the  Beloved.  He  imparted  no  elaborate 
theology,  hardening  experience  into  dogma;  that 
task  was  left  for  His  followers  to  accomplish 
under  the  Spirit's  guidance  as  the  ages  went  on. 
What  He  gave  them  to  transmit  was  the  old  Gos- 
pel, the  Good  News,  the  glad  tidings,  preached 
first  of  all  to  the  poor,  which  from  the  first  ran 
through  His  teachings  like  a  golden  thread,  bind- 
ing all  portions  of  it  together. 

What  that  Eesurrection  teaching  meant  to  the 
Apostles,  we  can  know  only  imperfectly.  They 
were  ordinary  mien,  bound  by  their  race  and  their 
age.  The  Book  of  Acts  and  the  Epistles  do  not 
use  often  the  phrase.  The  Kingdom  of  God.  It 
is  not  a  Pauline  expression ;  to  the  apostle  to  the 
Gentiles,  it  has  already  been  merged  in  the  con- 


Easter-Tide  i8i 

ception  of  the  Church.  During  the  long  course 
of  Christian  history  from  apostolic  days  till  now, 
the  full  force  of  the  conception  of  Jesus  has  been 
systematically  neglected  and  sadly  missed.  But 
modern  study  stimulates  us  to  a  deeper  compre^- 
hension  and  a  loyalty  renewed. 

We  know  that  Jesus  meant  the  Kingdom  to 
reverse  the  laws  of  unregenerate  society,  giving 
all  blessedness  of  earth  and  heaven  to  the  poor, 
the  merciful,  the  anhungered  for  justice,  the 
peace-makers,  the  meek,  the  pure  in  heart, — thus 
releasing  the  creative  and  discrediting  the  posses- 
sive instincts;  we  know  that  its  laws  were  con- 
ceived as  operative  in  a  fellowship,  wherein  all 
normal  joys  and  ties  were  sanctioned,  while  all 
that  savored  of  separation  and  selfishness  was  to 
be  purged  away.  And  it  is  evident  that  the  Lord 
thought  of  this  fellowship  of  His  citizens  as  bound 
to  higher  allegiance  than  that  to  any  worldly 
power,  and  therefore  sure  to  find  its  true  blessed- 
ness through  persecution ;  and  that  He  was  quietly 
assured  that  of  this  Kingdom  he  Himself  was 
king,  and  that  the  last  stage  of  it  was  to  be  in- 
augurated by  His  coming  to  judge  the  world. 
These  great  ideas  in  their  plenitude  were  probably 
the  burden  of  His  discourse  during  the  Forty 
Days ;  on  this  social  vision  of  an  ideal  community, 
the  Eisen  Lord  fixes  the  gaze  of  His  own. 


1 82  Social  Teachings 

So  the  Church  reaches  her  Ascension-Tide  and 
the  consummation  of  the  earthly  story.  The 
disciples  are  at  their  old  tricks  again.  *'Lord," 
they  ask  Him,  ^'wilt  thou  at  this  time  restore 
again  the  kingdom — to  Israel? ^^  He  is,  as  ever, 
fulfilled  in  patience.  While  they  could  still  think 
in  narrow  terms  like  these,  H!e  knows  that  prep- 
aration is  not  complete ;  they  do  not  possess  the 
needed  power.  But  He  is  also  fulfilled  in  hope 
and  faith,  and  so  He  answers :  ^*It  is  not  for  you 
to  know  the  times  or  the  seasons.  .  .  .  But  ye 
shall  receive  power  after  the  Holy  Ghost  is  come 
upon  you.'' 

That  in  these  last  moments,  He  persistently 
stresses  the  larger  thought,  is  evident  in  both  the 
Epistle  and  the  Gospel  for  Ascension  Day.  In 
the  Gospel,  the  Great  Commiission  is  given:  not 
to  Israel  alone,  but  *^Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and 
preach  the  Gospel" — the  Glad  Tidings  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  *Ho  every  creature."  In  the 
^'Epistle,"  He  says  that  they  are  to  be  witnesses 
to  Him,  not  only  in  Judaea,  not  only  in  Samaria 
even,  but  ^^unto  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth." 
It  is  on  these  words  that  He  leaves  them;  words 
spoken,  a  suggestive  old  legend  says,  as  He 
ascends.  His  sight  embracing  wider  and  wider 
reaches  of  the  landscape.  At  all  events  His  spirit 
ever  beheld  regions  beyond  their  narrow  vision. 


Easter-Tide  183 

They  are  left  gazing  upward;  and  two  men  in 
white  apparel  bring  once  more  at  this  solemn 
moment  the  promise  of  His  return.  The  lesson  is 
for  us  as  for  those  of  old.  As  Heaven  stoops  to 
earth  so  earth  must  attain  to  Heaven  till  there  is 
no  more  near  nor  far.  We  must  in  heart  and  mind 
thither  ascend  and  with  Christ  continually  dwell- 
Yet  earth  may  not  be  forgotten.  Still,  as  ever, 
the  gaze  of  the  Christian  is  pointed  forward  by 
the  Heavenly  messengers,  and  what  shall  happen 
here,  not  what  goes  on  behind  the  veil  of  death, 
is  the  goal  of  Christian  hope. 

We  wait,  with  the  apostles,  the  promised  Spirit. 
There  is  an  old  Greek  prayer  for  Ascension-Tide, 
which  takes  more  interest  in  the  state  of  things 
here  below  than  does  our  own  Collect,  translated 
from  the  Sarum  antiphon:  '^0  Thou  Who  art 
ascended  to  the  heavens,  whence  Thou  didst 
descend,  Lord,  leave  us  not  orphans" — so  far  the 
prayer  is  like  our  own — ^*Let  Thy  Spirit,  hring- 
i/ng  peace  to  the  world,  come  and  manifest  the 
works  of  Thy  power,  0  merciful  Lord,  to  the  sons 
of  men.'' 

The  Epistle  for  the  Sunday  after  Ascension  Day 
reminds  us  once  again.  The  end  of  all  things  is 
at  hand,  says  Peter :  watch  therefore,  watch,  and 
love,  and  show  your  love  by  sharing  one  with 
another.     We  have  been  bad  enough  at  loving. 


184  Social  Teachings 

God  knows,  but  even  a  little  worse,  perhaps,  at 
watching.  The  Gospel  strikes  again  the  note  of 
the  persecution,  to  be  surely  expected  by  all  true 
witnesses  of  Christ:  persecution,  not  by  wicked 
people,  be  it  noted,  but  by  the  respectable  and  the 
godly:  ^^They  shall  put  you  out  of  the  syna- 
gogues; yea,  the  time  cometh  that  whosoever 
killeth  you  will  think  that  he  doeth  God  service." 
There  is  much  in  these  solemii  warnings,  delib- 
erately incorporated  by  the  Church  in  her  most 
sacred  days,  that  ordinary  Christians  can  not  by 
any  stretch  of  application  appropriate  to  them- 
selves ! 

But  the  Comforter,  the  Spirit  of  Truth  Who 
shall  bring  all  things  to  our  remembrance,  is 
promised;  and  year  by  year  the  Church  waits  with 
the  disciples  in  the  Upper  Chamber,  confident  that 
the  best  is  yet  to  be  and  that  she  shall  receive  the 
promised  Power. 


CHAPTER  VIII:    WHITSUNTIDE 


Antiphon:  How  hear  we  every  man  in 
our  own  ton^e,  wherein  we  were  born? 

V.  They  began  to  speak  with  other 
tongues, 

R.  As  the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance. 

0  God,  Who  as  at  this  time  didst  teach 
the  hearts  of  Thy  faithful  people,  by  send- 
ing to  them  the  light  of  Thy  Holy  Spirit ; 
Grant  us  by  the  same  Spirit  to  have  a  right 
judgment  in  all  things,  and  evermore  to  re- 
joice in  His  holy  comfort;  through  the 
merits  of  Christ  Jesus  our  Saviour,  Who 
liveth  and  reigneth  with  Thee,  in  the  unity 
of  the  same  Spirit,  one  God,  world  with- 
out end.  Amen. 


CHAPTER  VIII:    WHITSUNTIDE 

GOD  among  us,  our  Brother, — that  has  been 
the  centre  of  thought  from  Advent  until 
now.  God  within  us,  our  Indweller, — ^to  this 
deepest  sanctuary  of  experience,  we  are  sum- 
moned by  Whitsunday. 

This  faith  in  the  Indwelling  Spirit  is  the  final 
sanction  and  seal  of  democracy.  Lacking  it,  miost 
thinking  people  would  automatically  become  aris- 
tocrats : 

**Thou  art  a  man:  God  is  no  more : 
Thy  own  humanity  learn  to  adore,"  ^ 

cries  William  Blake.  But  belief  in  humanity  as 
even  potentially  divine,  is  the  last  triumphant  de- 
fiance to  the  aspect  of  things, — a  defiance  very 
difficult  to  sustain  in  the  face  of  the  sorrowful 
human  story.  To  know  that  God  created  us  is 
scant  comfort;  it  but  deepens  our  shame  as  we 
see  ^^what  man  has  made  of  man."  To  know  that 
God  becomies  Man  and  suffers  with  man  is  indeed 

*  Blake:  The  Everlasting  Gospel. 
187 


1 88  Social  Teachings 

the  source  of  strength  and  consolation;  yet  one 
can  not  forget  the  daily  spectacle,  patent  to  seeing 
eyes,  of  man  crucifying  the  God  who  saves  him. 
But  He  Who  is  the  Eternal  Seeker,  the  insatiate 
Lover,  has  further  reassurance  to  offer  our 
despair.  He  comes  as  the  Paraclete,  the  Com- 
forter, the  sweet  Guest  of  the  Soul,  a  guest  whom 
no  sin  of  ours  can  exile.  The  heavenly  spark  is 
part  of  our  existence ;  it  is  the  spark  of  life  with- 
out which  the  soul  were  not.  He  Who  is  Creator 
and  Eedeemer  is  also  Sanctifier,  and  our  very  be- 
ing, broken  and  desecrated  though  it  be,  is  the 
Temple  of  His  Presence. 

There  is  a  definite  reason  for  the  certain  fact 
that  in  the  modern  world,  immanential  ideas  have 
accompanied  the  rise  of  democracy.  As  the 
People  have  been  coming  to  their  own,  the  visible 
emblems  of  King  or  Judge  or  even  of  Father, 
which  had  sufficed  monarchical  and  autocratic 
tim;es,  as  all  religious  art  can  testify,  have  lost 
reality.  They  have  been  replaced  more  and  more 
by  a  burning  intuition  of  a  Presence,  closer  than 
breathing,  nearer  than  hands  and  feet.  The  Chris- 
tian must  claim  as  his  own  the  splendid  passages 
inspired  by  the  vibrating  recognition  of  Universal 
Spirit,  which  are  the  culminating  glory  of  early 
nineteenth  century  poetry  in  England: 


Whitsuntide  189 

^^I  have  felt 
A  Presence  that  disturbs  me  with  the  joy 
Of  elevated  thoughts ;  a  sense  sublime 
Of  something  far  more  deeply  interfused, 
Whose  dwelling  is  the  light  of  setting  suns, 
And  the  round  ocean,  and  the  living  air. 
And  the  blue  sky,  and  in  the  mind  of  man : 
A  motion  and  a  spirit,  that  impels 
All  living  things,  all  objects  of  all  thought, 
And  rolls  through  all  things."  ^ 

*^The  One  Spirit's  plastic  stress 
Sweeps  through  the  dull  dense  w^orld,  compelling 

there 
All  new  successions  to  the  forms  they  wear; 
Torturing  th'  unwilling  dross  that  checks  its  flight 
To  its  own  likeness,  as  each  mass  may  bear; 
And  bursting  in  its  beauty  and  its  might 
From  trees  and  beasts  and  men  into  the  Heaven's 

light.  "2 

The  Christian  feels  that  all  phases  of  religious 
intuition  are  included  within  the  grand  scope  of 
the  Catholic  faith;  and  the  pantheism  of  modern 
poets  and  philosophers,  from  Blake  to  Whitman 

*  Wordsworth:  Lines  composed  a  few  miles  above  Tintern 
Abbey. 

*  Shelley:    Adonais,  XLIII. 


190  Social  Teachings 

and  beyond,  is  to  his  mind  an  impressive  witlness 
to  the  truth  reiterated  Sunday  by  Sunday  in  our 
Confession:  our  faith  in  **the  Lord,  and  Giver 
of  Life,"  the  ^^ Creator  Spirit  by  Whose  aid  the 
world's  foundations  first  were  laid." 

True,  Christian  thought  has  always  shrunk 
from  pantheism,  fearing,  and  rightly,  its  tendency 
to  blur  moral  distinctions,  and  to  sink  back  into 
ultimate  fatalism.  The  latter  tendency  has  not 
been  marked  perhaps  in  the  Western  world;  the 
former  is  obvious,  in  the  whole  modem  movement 
of  revolt  which  sweeps  democracy  along  in  its  cur- 
rent. But  the  Church  finds  protection  from  this 
danger  through  the  insistence  with  which  she 
places  the  doctrine  of  the  Spirit  last  instead  of 
first,  in  the  unfolding  conception  of  deity.  The 
great  sequence  cost  her  a  tremendous  struggle  to 
guard,  but  it  is  established  for  all  time  in  the  faith 
of  the  Western  Church;  and  the  Procession  of  the 
Spirit  from  the  Son  protects  the  dignity  and 
primacy  of  human  character,  and  robs  pantheistic 
ideals  of  all  their  danger.  Since  the  Informing 
Spirit  Who  is  the  soul  of  the  world,  flows  forth 
from  Him  Who  was  made  Man,  as  well  as  from 
the  ultimate  perfection  of  the  Divine  Fatherhood, 
our  reverence  for  our  own  moral  nature  and  our 
aspiration  toward  endless  progress  are  alike 
assured. 


Whitsuntide  191 

This  Spirit,  Who  brooded  at  the  outset  over  the 
face  of  the  waters,  "Whose  life  is  the  sustaining  life 
of  Nature  and  of  man,  is  the  very  Spirit  of  Pente- 
cost. But  in  a  new  and  special  sense,  ^'the  soul's 
most  welcome  Guest"  visits  the  waiting  disciples 
of  Jesus  : 

*' Witness,  0  Church,  with  whom  His  promised 

Spirit 
Dwells  through  the  ages,  His  ever-gracious  Will.'' 

Whitsunday  is  the  birthday  of  the  Church:  and 
the  Church  is  to  be  the  instrument  of  that  democ- 
racy through  which  the  Indwelling  Spirit  is  to 
work  out  His  blessed  will. 

Instrument  of  democracy?  One  hears  the  an- 
swering sneer.  But  the  Church  has  been  true  to 
her  duty  in  more  ways  than  the  scoffer  allows, 
though  often,  as  must  be  granted,  without  the 
knowledge  or  even  against  the  will  of  her  liVing 
officials.  At  the  outset  of  life,  she  assures  the 
Gift  of  the  Spirit  to  her  children  through  Bap- 
tism, which  is  the  very  sacrament  of  equality. 
**The  first  thing  the  Church  has  to  do  is,  in  the 
face  of  competing  sects  and  classes,  to  bear  wit- 
ness to  the  essential  equality  of  the  whole  people. 
This  she  does  by  means  of  her  Sacrament  of 
Infant  Baptism,.    Every  little  human  being  born 


192  Social  Teachings 

into  London  is  claimed  as  being  the  equal  of  every 
other  little  huanan  being. ' '  ^  The  Eucharist  which 
feeds  the  faithful  is  the  sign  and  seal  of  brother- 
hood; and  the  Scriptures  which  the  Church  so 
jealously  guards  are  the  charter  of  freedom. 

Liberty,  equality,  fraternity!  Charles  Kings- 
ley  once  aroused  the  wrath  of  a  mid- Victorian 
clergyman.  ^^The  Church,"  said  Kingsley,  ^^has 
three  special  possessions  and  treasures :  the  Bible, 
which  proclaims  man's  freedom;  baptism,  his 
equality;  the  Lord's  Supper,  his  brotherhood.'' 
The  incumbent  of  the  parish  was  so  horrified  at 
this  incendiary  statement  that  he  rose  after  the 
sermon  and  denounced  his  guest;  but  Kingsley 
spoke  S'ober  truth. 

Nor  are  sacraments  or  Scriptures  empty  sym- 
bols of  truth  forgotten  or  denied.  The  Church 
has  held  to  her  democratic  purpose,  often  uncon- 
sciously, to  be  sure,  but  always,  beneath  the 
surface,  steadfastly.  Sometimes,  it  must  be 
granted,  her  witness  has  been  borne  almost  in 
spite  of  her  intentions.  The  mediaeval  Church,  for 
example,  inspired  by  a  powerful  conviction  of  her 
superiority  to  the  external  order,  tried  to  overtop 
that  order  in  magnificence  and  in  autocratic  as- 
sumptions; her  very  hierarchy  reproduced  the 

*  Stewart  Headlam:    A  Lent  in  London,  p.  127. 


Whitsuntide  193 

feudal  model,  and  seemed  remote  enough  from  the 
plain  fishermen  of  Galilee.  Yet  at  the  same  time, 
within  her  own  borders  she  fostered  dem(ocracy 
to  a  surprising  degree.  Peasant  and  noble  were 
alike  eligible  to  her  highest  honors,  and  her 
saints  were  drawn  from  every  rank.  Monastic 
life,  even  at  its  average,  nay  even  in  its  decadence, 
somewhat  resembled  a  communist  Utopia  colored 
by  asceticism.  The  supreme  importance  of  every 
least  and  meanest  soul  was  matter  of  absolute 
faith  to  the  haughtiest  monarch,  and  such  faith 
was  perpetually  at  work,  modifying  the  prevalent 
caste-ideal. 

Open  confession  is  good  for  the  soul.  The 
Church  has  been  guilty,  as  her  accusers  claim,  of 
systematic  exploitation,  of  worldiness  and  arro- 
gance; she  has  committed  almost  fatal  blunders, 
from  the  evil  day  when  she  accepted  the  Gift  of 
Constantine  to  her  endorsement  of  the  ancien 
regime  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
There  is  danger  that  she  will  repeat  these  blun- 
ders in  our  own  day;  free  and  established 
Churches  alike  have  shown  of  late  a  tendency  to 
come  to-  heel  like  obedient  dogs  at  the  whistle  of 
the  State,  and  the  situation  in  Eussia  is  disquiet- 
ing and  obscure.    Nevertheless,   she  has  never 


194  Social  Teachings 

wholly  forfeited  her  proud  dignity  of  being  the 
refuge  of  the  humble,  the  home  of  the  One  Family 
of  God. 

But  it  is  more  consoling,  and  frankly  easier  also, 
to  follow  the  lead  and  teaching  of  the  Prayer- 
Book  than  to  proffer  an  Apologia  for  the  Church 
in  history.  And  the  Prayer-Book  leads  us  straight 
to  the  Upper  Chamber,  where  the  little  group 
quietly  awaits  the  Promise  of  the  Lord. 

Great  events  often  happen  unobtrusively,  in  out 
of  the  way  corners  of  the  world.  It  is  not  at  all 
likely  that  any  one  in  Italy  or  Africa  or  Greece 
or  Asia  had  the  least  idea  on  that  Sunday  morn- 
ing that  something  momentous  was  going  on  in  a 
modest  upstairs  room  of  a  provincial  capital, 
where  a  group  of  working-folk  was  gathered. 
Yet  nothing  else  of  comparable  importance  was 
occurring  anywhere  else  in  the  world. 

The  Giftf  like  all  best  gifts,  was  not  given  in 
solitude.  John  and  Peter  each  knew  that  the  same 
wonderful  thing  was  happening  to  his  friend. 

'*Not  on  one  favored  forehead  fell 
Of  old  the  fire-tongued  miracle, 
But  flamed  o'er  all  the  thronging  host 
The  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost; 


Whitsuntide  195 

Heart  answers  heart;  in  one  desire 
The  blending  lines  of  prayer  aspire.''  ^ 

And  from  that  day  to  this,  the  Spirit  is  sacramen- 
tally  given  where  two  or  three  are  met.  Those 
outside  the  old  historic  tradition  of  Christendom 
resent  the  Catholic  custom  of  associating  the  Gift 
of  the  Spirit  with  human  agency, — the  claim, 
almost  if  not  quite  from  the  Day  of  Pentecost  on, 
to  transmit  the  Gift  at  confirmation  and  ordina- 
tion by  the  touch  of  fatherly  hands.  Yet  the  cus- 
tom and  the  claim  speak  steadfastly  of  the  fact 
that  not  in  isolation  but  in  fellowship  is  found  the 
deepest  contact  with  the  Divine.  The  consecrated 
touch,  transmitted  through  the  ages,  is  the  silent 
witness  of  the  Church  to  the  union  of  humanity  in 
God.  Even  hermit-priests,  who  fled  into  the 
desert  or  otherwise  separated  themselves  from 
men,  had  known  that  touch;  they  were  one  with 
the  family  of  God.  Those  lonely  souls  who  prefer 
to  depend  solely  on  the  visitation  of  the  Breath 
in  solitude,  turn  from  the  method  of  Christ,  and 
forfeit  surely  something  of  His  Blessing. 

So  were  they  all  with  one  accord  in  one  place, — 
gathered  from  the  world,  not  because  they  were 
more  holy  but  because  they  knew  a  greater  love. 

*  John  Whittier. 


196  Social  Teachings 

So  came  to  themj  the  mystic  Wind,  the  mystic 
Flame ;  the  cloven  tongues  descend,  and  the  undi- 
vided Fire, — ^note  the  use  of  the  singular, — sits 
upon  each  of  them. 

And  the  first  sign  of  the  Spirit  is  the  Gift  of 
Tongues.  The  Beloved  Community  receives  the 
heavenly  power,  but  it  may  not  for  the  briefest 
period  keep  its  blessing  to  itself.  Instantly,  the 
disciples  ^^  began  to  speak  with  other  tongues,  as 
the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance."  It  was  to  the 
multitude  they  spoke,  ^*  devout  men  of  every 
nation  under  heaven,"  and,  at  least  in  the  early 
days,  there  was  no  incomprehensible  gibberish  in 
that  speaking:  *' Behold,  are  not  all  these  which 
speak  Galileans?  And  how  hear  we  every  man 
in  our  own  tongue,  wherein  we  were  born, 
Parthians,  and  Medes,  and  Elamites, — Jews  and 
proselytes,  Cretes  and  Arabians,  we  do  hear  them 
speak  in  our  tongues  the  wonderful  works  of 
God."  The  first  purpose  of  the  Gift  of  Tongues 
was  that  every  stranger  and  alien  should  under- 
stand God's  Eevelation. 

Perhaps  this  power  to  make  oneself  mlore 
widely  understood  is  always  the  first  result  of 
true  illumination  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  But  it  is  a 
power  to  which  men  appear  sadly  indifferent. 
How  many  people  in  Germany  were  able  during 
the  war  to  speak  with  the  tongues  that  could  be 


Whitsuntide  197 

understood  of  Frenchmen?  How  many  Ameri- 
cans are  praying  for  the  grace  of  the  Spirit  to 
enable  them  to  declare  in  language  intelligible  to 
the  German  or  the  Russian  mind,  the  wonderful 
works  of  God? 

The  Gift  of  Tongues,  the  Gift  of  Sympathy! 
The  ability  to  make  oneself  understood,  not  by 
forcing  or  even  urging  other  picople  to  learn  our 
language,  but  by  talking  to  them  in  their  own. 
Whether  we  look  at  the  corporate  Church  or  at 
our  private  behavior,  it  seems  equally  forgotten 
that  this  is  what  the  Spirit  must  do  for  us.  As 
a  rule,  the  idea  is  twisted  completely  round. 
Every  man  and  every  olass  is  content  to  shout  its 
shibboleth  at  its  adversary,  hoping  to  convince 
him  by  deafening  him.  So  capital  addresses 
labor,  so  labor  capital;  so  even  the  Christian 
Church  tries  to  coax  the  unchurched  to  come  and 
learn  her  ways  and  speak  her  tongue,  rarely  in- 
deed trying  the  other  way.  How  much  authentic 
effort  is  made  by  Slav,  Saxon,  Latin  to  understand 
each  other?  Lacking  an  international  psychology, 
how  can  a  League  of  Nations  flourish?  How 
many  people  take  the  trouble  to  ascertain  what 
the  Bolsheviki  are  really  doing?  ...  In  this 
** Pentecost  of  Calamity,"  the  whole  world  seems 
given  over  to  a  chaos  of  misrepresentation  and 
misunderstanding,  a  clash  of  tongues  not  holy, 


198  Social  Teachings 

rising  from  every  newspaper,  dinner-table,  pnblio 
meeting, — drowning  the  clear  under-melody,  con- 
stant for  who  can  hear,  of  the  Secret  Guest  of  the 
Soul, — the  One  Spirit  Whose  undivided  life  we 
share.  And  every  man  thinking  that  it  is  the 
other  man's  fault, — that  the  antagonist  ought  to 
take  the  trouble  to  learn  his  language.  As  for 
the  personal  application  ...  as  between  mistress 
and  servant,  employer  and  employed,  old  and 
young  .  .  .  Spirit  of  Pentecost,  grant  us  the  Gift 
of  Tongues,  whereby  each  man  shall  understand 
the  language  of  the  other ! 

But  if  we  would  have  this  Gift,  the  suggestion 
of  the  Whitsunday  Epistle  is,  that  we  must  be 
speaking  of  the  wonderful  works  of  God. 

That  is  what  the  Apostles  did.  Peter's  sermon, 
spoken  while  the  flame  hovered  almost  visibly 
above  him  (the  first  sermon  ever  preached  by  the 
Christian  Church),  carried  the  democratic  mes- 
sage :  *  ^  To  you  is  the  promise  and  to  your  chil- 
dren, and;  to  all  that  are  afar  off,  even  as  many  as 
the  Lord  our  God  shall  call  unto  Him. "  On  Whit- 
sun  Monday,  the  Church  reads  to  us  another 
sermon  of  Peter's,  where  he  says  that  God  is  no 
respecter  of  persons,  but  that  in  every  nation 
he  that  feareth  him  and  worketh  righteousness  is 
accepted.  Such  teaching  as  this  did  not  come  easy 
to  nationalistic  Peter;  he  had  to  be  taught  by 


Whitsuntide  199 

vision  and  miracle  that  his  Jewish  exclusiveness 
is  played  out  and  that  there  is  nothing  common 
or  unclean.  Even  so,  he  went  right  on  opposjing 
Paul  and  insisting  on  the  circumcision.  Yet  while 
he  preached  those  sermons,  under  the  power  of 
the  Baptism  of  Fire,  he  knew  true  ^*  sight  of 
soul";  and  the  Holy  Ghost  fell  on  the  Gentiles  as 
well  as  on  the  Jews,  to  the  astonishment  of  the 
latter,  and  Peter  rose  to  the  occasion,  saying, 
''Can  any  man  forbid  water,  that  these  should 
not  be  baptized  which  have  received  the  Holy 
Ghost  as  well  as  we?" 

On  Whitsun  Tuesday,  we  hear  how  fellowship 
reaches  out  into  Samaria.  An  amazing  thing, 
for  the  Jews,  in  the  Gospels,  have  no  dealings  with 
the  Samaritans.  But  now  Peter  and  John  are 
sent  into  those  parts  by  the  Apostolic  College, 
and  the  Samaritans,  who  had  already,  it  seems, 
heard  the  Word  and  been  baptized,  received  the 
Spirit  by  the  laying  on  of  hands.  Thus  the  Be- 
loved Community  becomes  more  than  a  special 
union  of  those  who  have  been  extraordinarily 
blessed  at  a  crisis ;  it  is  established  on  secure  foun- 
dations, on  which  down  all  ages  it  shall  endure. 

So  the  birthday  of  the  Church  is  the  birthday  of 
Internationalism.  At  Whitsuntide,  the  Church 
summons  the  faithful  to  advance  into  Christian 
history,  beyond  the  brief  period  when  the  Light 


200  Social  Teachings 

shone  and  the  Life  was  manifest  in  Galilee  and 
Jerusalem.  And  the  history  of  early  Christianity 
as  recorded  in  the  Book  of  Acts  and  the  Epistles, 
is  largely  the  story  of  the  struggle  between  a 
nationalistic  and  an  international  ideal.  The 
latter  triumphed,  and  the  primitive  Church  be- 
came in  a  surprisingly  short  time  an  international 
institution.  Today,  a  divided  Christendom  sor- 
rowfully attests  how  difficult  it  is  to  maintain  the 
great  vision;  yet  the  wonderful  sense  of  expand- 
ing and  all-inclusive  life  which  pervades  the 
Whitsun  season,  remains  the  Christian  temper 
par  excellence. 

The  first  result  then  of  this  influx  of  the  Spirit 
is  the  breaking  down  of  barriers,  the  creation  of 
a  limitless  democracy  in  Christ.  And  the  next  is 
the  development  of  simple  social  organization  in 
the  new  community.  The  first  and  most  distinc- 
tive mark  of  it,  as  recorded  in  Scripture,  is  the 
community  of  goods.  ^^And  not  one  of  them  said 
that  aught  of  the  things  which  he  possessed  was 
his  own;  but  they  had  all  things  common.  And 
with  great  power  gave  the  apostles  their  witness 
of  the  Eesurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus :  and  great 
grace  was  upon  them  all.  For  neither  was  there 
among  them  any  that  lacked :  for  as  many  as  were 
possessors  of  lands  or  houses,  sold  them,  and 


Whitsuntide  201 

brought  the  prices  of  the  things  that  were  sold, 
and  laid  them  at  the -apostles'  feet:  and  distribu- 
tion was  made  unto  each  according  as  any  one 
had  need."  ^ 

One  would  not  make  too  much  of  that  brief 
experiment  at  Jerusalem.  It  should  indeed  be 
called  experience  rather  than  experiment,  since 
there  was  in  it.no  self-conscious  playing  with  pos- 
sibilities, but  merely  the  straight  instinctive  ex- 
pression of  the  new-found  unity  in  the  Eisen  Lord. 
That  short-lived  episode  of  brotherhood  did  not 
start  from  a  well  considered  economic  theory;  it 
just  happened.  Men  poured  all  that  they  had  into 
the  common  stock  because  they  loved  one  another 
so  much  that  they  enjoyed  sharing  better  than 
keeping.  The  method  was  abandoned  presently, 
even  in  New  Testament  days :  the  poor  saints  at 
Jerusalem  proved,  it  must  be.  confessed,  rather  a 
nuisance  and  problem  to  the  rest  of  the  Christian 
world.  In  the  centuries  after  Church  life  became 
crystallized,  orthodox  opinion  on  average  levels 
has  considered,  when  it  discussed  economic  ideals 
at  all,  that  communism  is  a  sort  of  counsel  of  per- 
fection, to  be  relegated  to  the  New  Jerusalem  or 
to  monastic  orders  (among  which  it  has  paren- 
thetically shown  itself  marvellously  potent  to  re- 
lease and  fructify  men's   capacities).    Scholars 

^Acts  IV,  32-35.    See  also  Acts  II,  44-46. 


202  Social  Teachings 

tell  us  that  even  those  first  disciples,  at  that  mo- 
ment of  heightened  emotion,  adopted  the  method 
only  as  an  ad  interim  policy,  because  the  Messiah 
was  expected  to  return  any  day,  and  there  was 
therefore  no  especial  object  in  hoarding  wealth. 
Nor  were  any  orders  issued  on  the  matter:  the 
resigning  one's  goods  was  a  voluntary  measure, 
untouched  by  taint  of  legislation.  The  trouble 
with  Ananias,  as  has  often  been  pointed  out,  was 
not  that  he  kept  part  of  his  possessions  back,  but 
that  he  lied  about  them. 

Yet  when  all  modifications  and  admissions  are 
made,  the  Christian  mind  can  never  forget  those 
brief  days,  marked  by  the  first  outflowing  of  the 
Spirit  into  a  Christian  commonwealth.  President 
Faunce  put  the  situation  well: 

^*They  had  all  things  common, — ^not  only  a  com- 
mon faith  and  hope  and  zeal,  but  common  prop- 
erty also.  Within  the  Church  of  Jerusalem, 
private  property  largely  disappeared,  and  com- 
munity of  goods  was  the  rule.  The  early  Church 
was  not  only  a  prayer-meeting  but  a  mutual  bene- 
fit association.  Its  members  were  not  only  *  saved 
from  the  wrath,'  but  they  were  insured  against 
poverty  and  sickness  by  the  organization  which 
they  joined.  There  was  a  share  of  possessions  as 
well  as  ideals.  The  first  official  action  after  Pente- 
cost  was   the   choice   of   seven  men   'over   this 


Whitsuntide  203 

business/ — the  intelligent  care  of  the  poor.  Or- 
ganized relief  of  poverty  in  Jerusalem  preceded 
all  attempts  at  the  formulation  of  Christian 
truth."! 

Such  is  the  first  Adventure  of  the  Church,  fresh 
from  her  chrism  of  Pentecostal  fire.  It  is  not  by 
chance  that  the  incident  occurred  or  that  it  is 
recorded.  The  meaning,  at  lowest,  is  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  leads  the  Church  straight  to  distinc- 
tive self-expression  concerning  worldly  wealth 
and  social  relationships,  and  that  the  right  atti- 
tude toward  property  is  a  primary  object  of 
Christian  solicitude.  It  is  natural,  then,  at  this 
season,  to  glance  at  successive  phases  of  Christian 
thinking  in  this  connection,  and  to  note  how  the 
instinct  of  ownership,  so  potent  and  to  most  minds 
so  essential  a  social  force,  is  consistently  dis- 
credited to  the  best  Christian  intuition.  The  idea 
of  literal  communism  yields  almost  at  once  indeed 
under  stress  of  actuality,  to  the  cognate  yet  quite 
separate  theory  of  stewardship;  but  this  theory, 
though  it  may  easily  become  a  means  of  self- 
delusion,  is  taken  by  all  great  Christian  writers 
with  such  literal  seriousness  that  it  would  involve 
practical  renunciation  of  all  special  privilege. 
Nor  is  it  too  much  to  say  that  the  more  intense 

*W.  H.  P.  Faunee:    Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions,  p.  20. 
Missionary  Education  Movement,  1914. 


204  Social  Teachings 

the  spiritual  note,  the  more  the  key  of  pure  com- 
munism is  struck. 

^^It  was  largely  because  the  Church  appeared 
as  a  society  making  the  welfare  of  all  its  members 
its  controlling  principle  in  the  acquisition  and  dis- 
tribution of  wealth  that  it  made  the  great  prog- 
ress which  history  records  in  the  world  of  the 
Eoman  Empire. ' '  So  states  the  Eeport  of  a  Com- 
mission to  the  Convocation  of  Canterbury  in 
1907.  A  good  summary  of  the  early  attitude  is 
found  in  a  volume  introduced  by  Bishop  Gore, 
''Property,  Its  Duties  and  Eights":  What  has 
religion  to  say  to  the  institution  of  Property? 
''The  (early)  Christian  Church  became  a  corpora- 
tion for  mutual  support,  refusing  the  idler  who 
would  not  work,  but  for  the  rest  accepting  the 
maxim  that  they  'must  provide  one  another  with 
support,  with  all  joy.  ...  To  the  workman,  work; 
to  him  who  can  not  work,  mercy  (or  alms).' 
There  is  no  doubt  that  this  profound  sense  of  the 
communal  claim  on  private  property,  and  this 
practically  effective  sense  of  brotherhood  pro- 
duced an  economic  condition  in  the  Christian  com- 
munity which  was  one  main  cause  of  its  prog- 
ress."^ (The  internal  quotation  is  from  the 
eighth  Epistle  of  the  Pseudo-Clement.) 

*  Property,    Its   Duties   and   Rights.     Macmillan,    1913.     Intro- 
duction, p.  XV.     A  valuable  book. 


Whitsuntide  205 

From  the  same  book  comes  a  summary  of  the 
attitude  of  Lactantius,  a  third-century  writer 
especially  concerned  with  social  speculation: 

^*God  .  .  .  has  willed  that  all  should  be  equal, 
that  is,  equally  matched  (pares).  None  is  with 
Him  a  slave,  none  a  master.  .  .  .  Wherefore 
neither  the  Eomans  nor  the  Greeks  could  possess 
justice,  because  they  have  had  men  of  many  un- 
equal grades,  from  poor  to  rich,  from  humble  to 
powerful.  For  where  all  are  not  equally  matched, 
there  is  not  equity;  and  inequality  itself  excludes 
justice/'^  A  startling  statement,  worthy  of 
Lenin ! 

Another  epitome :  *  ^  Clement  can  find  no  Chris- 
tian warrant  for  the  man  who  *goes  on  trying  to 
increase  without  limit.  ^  On  the  other  hand,  he 
goes  beyond  the  primitive  mode  of  thought  in  a 
modern  direction  when  he  observes  that  *It  is 
impossible  that  one  in  want  of  the  necessaries  of 
life  should  not  be  harassed  in  mind  and  lack 
leisure  for  the  better  things.'  ...  In  TertuUian 
the  primitive  attitude  toward  property  is  no  less 
manifest  than  in  his  great  Alexandrine  contem- 
porary.   'We  who  mingle  in  mind  and  soul,'  says 

he,  'have  no  hesitation  as  to  fellowship  in  prop- 
erty.'''^ 

*  Ditto,  p.  105. 

»  Ditto,  pp.  102,103. 


2o6  Social  Teachings 

From  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas:  ^^Thou  shalt 
communicate  in  all  things  with  thy  neighbor ;  thou 
shalt  not  call  things  thine  own;  for  if  ye  are 
partakers  of  things  which  are  incorruptible,  how 
much  more  of  those  things  which  are  corruptible." 

'^Thou  dost  not  give  to  the  poor  what  is  thine 
own,  thou  restorest  to  him  what  is  his.  The  earth 
belongs  to  all,  not  to  the  rich  only.  Thou  art 
there  for  paying  thy  debt,  and  givest  him  only 
what  thou  owest  him."    That  is  St.  Ambrose. 

And  St.  Augustine:  ^^Let  us  then,  my  breth- 
ren, abstain  from  private  property,  or  at  least 
from  the  love  of  it,  if  we  can  not  abstain  from 
its  possession."  And  again:  ^^AU  that  God  has 
given  us  beyond  what  is  necessary  He  has  not, 
properly  speaking,  given  us.  He  has  but  entrusted 
it  to  us,  that  it  may  by  our  means  come  into  the 
hands  of  the  poor.  To  retain  it  is  to  take  posses- 
sion of  what  belongs  to  others." 

St.  Chrysostom  is  a  particularly  radical- 
minded  Father.  One  could  fill  pages  with  quota- 
tions from  him: 

'^So  destructive  a  passion  is  avarice  that  to 
grow  rich  without  injustice  is  impossible.  .  .  . 
Because  God  in  the  beginning  made  not  one  man 
rich  and  another  poor,  .  .  .  but  He  left  the  earth 
free  to  all  alike.    Why,  then,  if  it  is  common,  have 


Whitsuntide  207 

you  so  many  acres  of  land,  and  your  neighbor  has 
not  a  portion  of  it?" 

He  is  quite  aware,  however,  that  the  day  of  the 
apostolic  Christians  is  over,  and  indulges  in  a 
delightful  note  of  satire : 

^  ^  They  did  not  give  in  part  and  in  part  reserve ; 
nor  yet  in  giving  all,  give  it  as  their  own.  And 
they  lived,  moreover,  in  great  abundance,"  a  re- 
mark hardly  justified  by  the  record;  ^^they  re- 
moved all  inequality  from  among  them  and  made 
a  goodly  order.  .  .  .  To"  the  apostles  ^' they  left" 
it  to  be  the  dispensers,  made  them  the  owners, 
that  henceforth  all  should  be  defrayed  as  from 
common  not  from  private  property.  .  .  .  Let  us 
now  depict  this  state  of  things  in  words,  and  de- 
rive at  least  this  pleasure  from  it,  since  you  have 
no  mind  for  it  in  your  actions. ' ' 

I  do  not  know  who  wrote  the  Tenth  Homily,  on 
the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  but  he  was  a 
perfect  Bolshevik: 

^' Your  very  existence  is  not  your  own:  how  is  it 
then  that  your  riches  are?  .  .  .  Eiches  are  a  com- 
mon property,  like  the  light  of  the  sun,  the  air 
or  the  productions  of  the  earth.  Eiches  are  to 
society  what  food  is  to  the  body :  should  any  one 
of  her  members  wish  to  absorb  the  nutriment 
which  is  intended  for  the  support  of  all,  the  body 


2o8  Social  Teachings 

would  perish  entirely :  it  is  held  together  only  by 
the  requisite  distribution  of  nourishment  to 
diverse  parts. '^  ^ 

None  of  these  early  writers  anticipate  or  urge 
the  expression  of  their  generous  ideals  in  the 
secular  structure ;  the  antithesis  between  the  faith- 
ful and  *'the  world"  was  sharp  and  permanent 
to  their  minds :  only  the  Power  of  the  Spirit  could 
inspire  fraternal  passion  to  inhibit  the  possessive 
instincts  of  the  natural  man.  But  they  thought 
the  motives  at  work  in  the  world  frankly  evil; 
nor  could  they  have  encountered  without  surprise 
or  discussed  with  patience  the  modern  Apologia 
for  competition,  inequalities  of  wealth,  and  pri- 
vate ownership,  on  the  ground  that  such  things 
are  morally  to  the  good. 

As  the  generations  passed,  the  disparity  be- 
tween the  Christians  and  the  world  softened  in 
fact,  though  never  abandoned  in  theory.  After 
the  Gift  of  Constantine,  the  present  situation  soon 
defined  itself:  ^^a  diffusion  of  Christianity  at  the 
cost  of  its  intensity.''  The  mediaeval  Church,  with 
its  pomp,  its  vast  endowments,  and  the  overween- 
ing luxury  of  its  prelates,  presented  a  sharp 
external  contrast  to  earlier  ideals.  The  private 
possession  of  wealth  was  not  discouraged,  since  a 

*See,  for  further  extracts  from  Church  Fathers,  Upton  Sin- 
clair, The  Cry  for  Justice,  Section,  **The  Voice  of  the  Early- 
Church/'  pp.  396-399. 


Whitsuntide  209 

large  portion  was  likely  to  flow  in  time  into 
ecclesiastical  coffers.  Long  after  the  middle  ages 
were  past,  Burke,  in  famous  passages  aglow  with 
a  great  tradition,  exalted  with  unsurpassed  elo- 
quence the  dignities  of  material  splendor  as  the 
necessary  trappings  of  religion. 

And  yet  through  the  long  middle  ages  the  more 
radical  attitude  toward  private  wealth  was  far 
from  forgotten.  It  found  at  once  satisfaction  and 
check  in  expression  on  a  limited  scale.  Com- 
munism and  voluntary  poverty  might  be  beyond 
the  duty  of  common  folk;  but  they  inspired  the 
great  monastic  foundations  and  they  were  steadily 
recognized  by  theologians  as  an  integral  part  of 
the  Christian  ideal.  It  is  not  necessary  to  turn 
to  avowed  radicals  like  the  Spiritual  Franciscans 
to  find  stubborn  reassertion  of  the  vices  of  private 
property;  one  can  listen  to  St.  Thomas  Aquinas 
saying:  ^^Man  should  not  consider  his  outward 
possessions  as  his  own,  but  as  common  to  all,  so 
as  to  share  them  without  difficulty  when  others  are 
in  need.''  The  mystics  according  to  their  wont 
are  more  explicit  than  the  theologians.  Fine  pas- 
sages in  the  '^Theologia  Germanica"  go  to  the 
heart  of  the  matter : 

*^Were  there  no  self-will  there  would  be  also  no 
ownership.  In  Heaven  there  is  no  ownership. 
...  If  anyone  there  took  upon  him  to  call  any- 


210  Social  Teachings 

thing  his  own,  he  would  straightway  be  thrust  out 
into  hell,  and  would  become  an  evil  spirit.  ..." 
^*Now  in  this  present  time,  man  is  set  between 
Heaven  and  hell,  and  may  turn  him  toward  which 
he  will.  For  the  more  he  hath  of  ownership,  the 
more  he  hath  of  sin  and  misery. "  *  ^  He  who  hath 
something  or  seeketh  or  longeth  to  have  something 
of  his  own,  is  himself  a  slave,  and  he  who  hath 
nothing  of  his  own,  nor  seeketh  nor  longeth  there- 
after, is  free  and  at  large  and  in  bondage  to 
none. ' '  ^ 

The  early  communism  of  Wyclif  has  been  too 
much  thrown  in  the  shade  by  his  later  theological 
heresies.  But  it  is  a  theory  definitely  thought  out, 
in  direct  line  from  Marsiglio  of  Padua  and  the 
Spiritual  Franciscans.  The  arguments  in  his 
**De  Dominio  Civile"  are  quaint,  but  the  conclu- 
sions are  both  primitive  and  modern.  Briefly, 
Wyclif  thinks  that  only  righteous  people  have  any 
claim  on  possessions ;  but  righteous  people  never 
want  to  keep  anything  to  themselves,  ergo  com- 
mon property  is  the  only  just  and  Christian  ideal. 
In  the  following  passage,  he  wrestles  with  a  diffi- 
culty often  urged  today : 

^^It  will  be  objected  to  holding  goods  in  common 
that  government  will  perish,  because  no  one  cares 
to  preserve  common  property.     But  no,  if  that 

*  Theologia  Germanica,  Ch.  LI. 


Whitsuntide    ,  211 

law  were  in  force  states  would  be  niost  excellently 
preserved.  .  .  .  For  goods  are  to  be  cared  for  in 
proportion  to  their  excellence.  Now  goods  held 
in  common  are  the  best  of  all ;  therefore  they  must 
be  cared  for  most  perfectly." 

The  Beatified  Sir  Thomas  More,  at  the  outset 
of  the  Eef ormation,  fused  his  Catholic  inheritance 
with  his  Platonic  studies,  and  remarked  in  no  un- 
certain tones  that  private  property  was  the  root 
of  all  evil.  But  when  we  reach  the  Eef  ormation, 
quotations  must  cease.  Despite  Anabaptists  and 
other  social  stirrings  such  as  always  accompany 
religious  reform  at  the  outset,  Protestantism  on 
the  whole  grew  and  flourished  in  the  period  of 
lusty  individualism  which  is  just  passing  away, 
and  socialist  theory  is  weak  and  occasional.  The 
nineteenth  century  began  to  strike  the  old  note 
once  more.  Canon  Bamett,  that  true  prophet, 
wrote:  ^* There  will  be  in  the  Christian  society 
no  governed  and  governing  classes."  Walter 
Eauschenbusch  more  lately  uttered  an  epigram- 
matic warning:  ^*If  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  the 
true  human  society,  it  is  a  fellowship  of  justice, 
equality  and  love.  But  it  is  hard  to  get  riches 
with  justice,  to  keep  them  with  equality,  and  to 
spend  them  with  love."  ^    Even  the  official  Church 

*W.  Eauschenbusch:  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis,  p.  77. 
Macmillan. 


212  Social  Teachings 

begins  to  look  back  with  wistfulness  to  that  first 
Christian  community,  fresh  from  the  outpouring 
of  the  Spirit;  and  here  and  there,  a  Christian 
voice  is  clearly  raised  with  the  old  message. 

Once  more,  men  begin  to  perceive  that  the  first 
Pentecostal  experiment  derived  straight  from 
Christ's  own  Teachings.  The  Spirit  has  indeed 
taken  of  His  and  has  shown  it  unto  us. 

As  Bishop  Gore  says:  ^^Our  Lord  seems  to 
stand  over  against  each  human  soul  which  comes 
to  Him  to  seek  the  position  of  the  disciple,  elicit- 
ing, claiming,  welcoming,  and  blessing,  the 
renunciation  of  wealth.  .  .  .  ^How  hardly  shall 
they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven.'  .  .  .  From  that  warning  we  must  re- 
member the  correctest  texts  have  removed  the 
modification,  ^How  hardly  shall  they  that  trust  in 
riches.'  It  is  the  possession  of  riches  which  re- 
mains the  almost  insuperable  obstacle."^ 

Individuals  by  thousands  have  heeded  the  warn- 
ing.  They  have  seen  that  Christ  invariably 
stressed  worldly  prosperity  as  a  perilous  though 
not  fatal  condition,  and  they  have  sought  safety, 
peace  and  citizenship  in  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven, 
by  claiming  the  Beatitude  of  the  Poor.  But  the 
segregated  methods  of  monasticism  do  not  satisfy 
a  democratic  world,  and  few  see  that  it  would  do 

*  Sermon  to  Church  Congress,  1906. 


Whitsuntide  213 

anybody  any  good  for  them  to  follow  St.  Francis. 
Individual  obedience  to  the  Divine  Commands  is 
at  best  a  partial  solution ;  for  one  can  not  iterate 
too  often  that  those  commands  invariably  presup- 
pose a  Fellowship  and  a  social  application.  It 
is  conceivable  that  a  corporate  expression  of  the 
Christian  attitude  toward  property  and  private 
wealth  would  give  Christianity  a  chance  for  the 
first  time. 

Economic  revolution  sweeps  over  the  world. 
"While  socialism  of  conservative  types  cautiously 
and  almost  unrecognized  makes  its  way  in  nearly 
every  country,  an  amazing  experiment  in  com- 
munism, boldly  based  upon  the  ultimate  com- 
munist formulae,  seizes  possession  of  a  great 
nation.  Men  wait  breathless  upon  the  event.  In 
most  countries,  notably  in  Eussia,  the  radical 
movement  assumes  without  discussion  that  the 
Church  is  its  settled  enemy,  and  the  firm  friend 
of  the  ancien  regime.  It  would  be  interesting  in- 
deed to  surprise  the  Eevolution!  If  Christian 
people  regained  the  Pentecostal  fervor,  they 
might  play  the  determining  and  the  constructive 
part  in  these  tremendous  days.  They,  and  they 
only,  have  it  in  their  power  to  rescue  the  Eevolu- 
tion from  its  worst  evils.  They  might,  if  they 
would,  transfuse  the  passionate  upheaval  which 


214  Social  Teachings 

is  bound  to  stop  nowhere  short  of  the  extended 
socialization  of  wealth,  with  the  passion  of  the 
Cross,  with  the  fire  of  the  Spirit.  Does  it  mean 
nothing  that  our  Whitsun  Altars  glow  with  red? 
Might  not  the  Bed  Flag  find  itself  at  home  there? 

The  Church  is  at  the  parting  of  the  ways;  be- 
fore long  she  will  have  to  declare  herself  for  or 
against  the  socialist  movement.  She  can  not  re- 
main neutral,  because  she  is  composed  of  human 
beings.  It  would  be  a  tragic  blunder  if  she  should 
repeat  her  successive  choices  in  history,  and  con- 
stitute herself  the  defender  of  the  economic  status 
quo.  Modern  critical  study  has  given  a  new  actu- 
ality to  the  Teachings  of  Christ.  Is  it  not  a 
Christian  hope  that  the  Church  may  recover  that 
first  ardor  which  filled  those  eager  disciples  at 
Jerusalem,  on  whose  brows  the  Spirit  still  lin- 
gered in  living  flame? 

If  the  Indweller  guides  her,  some  of  us  can  not 
doubt  the  answer.  The  overflowing  love  of  God, 
of  which  the  Whitsun  Gospels  speak,  will  inundate 
her  heart,  and  all  jealous  separateness  in  outward 
possessions  as  in  the  inward  parts,  will  be  swept 
away.  The  Spirit  shall  bring  to  our  remembrance 
all  things,  whatsoever  Christ  has  said  unto  us, 
and  we  shall  know  the  peace  that  is  not  of  this 
world.  Jesus  the  Door,  Jesus  the  Shepherd,  shall 
open  the  way  to  a  new  social  life  of  economic 
equality  and  shall  guide  us  as  we  enter  in. 


CHAPTER  IX:    TRINITY-TIDE 


Antiphon:  And  they  rest  not  day  nor 
night,  saying  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God 
Almighty,  which  was,  and  is,  and  is  to 
come. 

V.  Hallowed  be  Thy  Name, 

R.  On  earth  as  it  is  in  Heaven. 

Almighty  and  everlasting  God,  Who  hast 
given  nnto  ns  Thy  servants  grace,  by  the 
confession  of  a  true  faith,  to  acknowledge 
the  glory  of  the  eternal  Trinity,  and  in 
the  power  of  the  Divine  Majesty  to  wor- 
ship the  Unity ;  We  beseech  Thee  that  Thou 
wouldest  keep  us  steadfast  in  this  faith, 
and  evermore  defend  us  from  all  adversi- 
ties, Who  livest  and  reignest,  one  God, 
world  without  end.  Amen. 


CHAPTER  IX:    TRINITY-TIDE 

THE  Year  of  the  Church  draws  to  an  end. 
The  varyhig  contacts  of  the  Divine  with  the 
human  celebrated  by  the  seasons  as  they  pass, 
converge  toward  their  centre  and  climax, — the 
contemplation  of  the  Divine  Nature,  as  it  exists 
eternal,  self-sufficing,  uncreate. 

A  right  conception  of  God  is  the  greatest  need 
of  humanity,  and  it  should  be  the  first  object  of 
human  desire.  That  such  was  the  belief  of  Jesus 
is  made  clear  by  the  sequence  of  petitions  in  the 
Lord's  Prayer.  ^'Hallowed  be  Thy  Name!''  A 
name  is  an  idea  or  definition  of  a  person  or  thing, 
and  the  hallowing,  that  is,  the  sanctification  and 
exaltation  of  our  idea  of  God,  is  to  be  our  first 
aspiration.  This  aspiration  heads  the  great  group 
of  impersonal  requests  which,  contrary  to  natural 
instinct,  precede  the  demands  for  physical  sus- 
tenance and  even  for  spiritual  well-being. 

In  no  wise  is  this  prayer  more  truly  the  Lord's 

Prayer  than  in  such  contradiction.    Dear  Father 

in  Heaven,  give  us  our  daily  bread ;  forgive  us  our 

sins,  deliver  us  from  evil :  our  own  needs  clamor 

to  Thee,  and  we  can  not  pay  attention  to  anything 

217 


2i8  Social  Teachings 

else  till  they  are  satisfied.  Then,  for  we  do  really 
and  honestly  want  a  better  world,  may  Thy  King- 
dom come  and  Thy  Will  be  done  on  earth.  And 
when  all  these  things  are  accomplished,  perhaps 
we  shall  find  time  to  be  concerned  about  our 
theology,  and  anxious  for  the  hallowing  of  Thy 
Name.  .  .  .  That  is  a  familiar  type  of  prayer,  not 
irreligious,  much  better  one  fears  than  the  aver- 
age, and  quite  in  accord  with  the  idea  held  by  some 
radicals  and  also  some  psychologists  of  the 
sequence  of  our  needs.  Only,  it  is  not  the  prayer 
of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

That  any  human  conception  of  God  is  final,  who 
would  dare  to  claim?  What  eternity,  or  even  the 
future  course  of  history,  may  reveal,  who  would 
dare  to  prophesy?  Peering  back  to  the  beginning 
of  racial  life,  we  see  man's  thought  about  the 
Supreme  Power  continually  changing;  the  very 
name  varies  today  from  country  to  country,  nor 
can  God  be  etymologically  recognized  in  Dieu, 
Allah,  Jehovah,  or  Bogh.  In  one  sense,  man  dis- 
covers his  God,  in  another  he  creates  Him;  the 
conception  of  Deity  is  always  deeply  affected,  if 
not  produced,  by  the  social  and  economic  condi- 
tions of  the  age. 

The  Lord  is  a  Man  of  War:  the  Lord  is  His 


Trinity-Tide  219 

Name.  He  was  a  fetich  before  that,  a  dim  Anima 
Mundi,  half -conscious  in  wood  or  stone.  Among 
the  ancient  nations,  one  notes  confusedly,  now  the 
adoration  of  life  in  Nature,  now  the  anthropo- 
morphic insistence  on  a  human  God,  now  the 
exaltation  of  culture-heroes.  In  every  age  are 
philosophic  or  mystic  souls,  to  whom  the  veil  of 
sense  is  thin,  who  fly  through  illusions  to  the  One ; 
in  every  age  the  multitude,  with  a  wisdom  of  its 
own,  cries  out  insistently  to  the  Many.  Now  a 
daze  of  undifferentiated  light,  negation  rather 
than  completion  of  earth's  rainbow,  invites  the 
weary  spirit  of  the  Buddhist ;  now  the  disciple  of 
Confucius  sees  nothing  higher  than  the  category 
of  the  moral  law. 

Among  the  Jews,  steady  advance  can  be  traced 
from  the  comparatively  late  stage  of  belief  in  a 
tribal  Deity  with  which  their  history  opens :  and 
in  due  time  comes  the  shining  hour  when  man 
utters  the  word  which  he  will  never  forget,  and 
cries  Father  into  the  waiting  heavens.  Our  Lord, 
in  His  revelation  of  the  Divine  Fatherhood,  ex- 
alted forever  the  ideal  native  to  a  once  patriarchal 
people,  among  whom  reverence  for  family  life  had 
reached  a  higher  point  than  among  any  other 
people  of  antiquity ;  and  so  long  as  the  Family  is 
an  enduring  social  fact  and  the  unit  of  civilization, 


220  Social  Teachings 

this  conception  will  never  be  discredited.  But 
there  have  been  many  times  during  Christian  his- 
tory when  it  has  not  been  very  potent. 

To  claim  that  the  Christian  centuries  witness  no 
change  in  the  thought  of  Grod,  is  absurd.  Obvi- 
ously, the  disciple  of  Boniface  in  the  eighth  cenh 
tury  Northern  forests,  had  not  the  same  image 
in  mind  as  the  modern  worshipper.  A  mon- 
archical and  judicial  conception  ruled  the  feudal 
period,  when  King  and  Judge  represented  ulti- 
mate power,  and  theoretically  at  least  ultimate 
justice:  all  mediaeval  art  instinctively  pictures 
Deity  under  one  or  another  of  these  forms. 
Theistic  abstractions,  seeking  with  dubious  suc- 
cess to  realize  a  Great  First  Cause,  emerge  during 
the  eighteenth  century.  When  the  People  began, 
in  the  revolutionary  age,  to  come  to  their  own  and 
to  develop  class  consciousness,  visible  emblems  of 
a  Divine  authority  faded,  as  we  have  seen,  re- 
placed by  burning  intuition  of  a  Universal  Pres- 
ence. This  intuition  has  deepened  during  the 
gradual  rise  of  democracy;  yet  within  its  scope 
may  be  discerned  varying  stress,  corresponding 
to  minor  phases  of  social  experience.  For  in- 
stance, the  intense  domesticity  of  the  Victorian 
period  in  England  saw  devout  souls  like  F.  D. 
Maurice  reviving  with  passionate  devotion  the 
tender  conception  of  the  Divine  Fatherhood ;  the 


Trinity-Tide  221 

Lord  of  Battles  has  been  invoked  of  late  with 
atavistic  ardor  by  nations  delivered  over  to  a 
militaristic  ideal. 

And  through  all  these  tentative  and  conditioned 
gropings  may  dimly  be  discerned  the  Eternal  and 
the  Abiding.  He  Who  is  *' Himself  unmoved,  all 
motion's  source,"  is  truly  seen  in  every  age,  but 
seen  in  different  aspects,  as  a  mountain  remains 
firm  yet  presents  a  new  vision  to  each  new  angle 
of  approach. 

Facing  this  vast  diversity,  what  excuse  can  be 
found  for  asserting  any  one  ancient  formula  to 
be  final?  Why  in  any  case  cling  to  a  formula  de^- 
fined,  not  by  Christ  Himself  or  His  immediate 
followers,  but  some  centuries  after  His  death? 
.  .  .  ^^The  right  faith  is,"  says  the  Athanasian 
creed  with  sublime  serenity:  and  again,  *^This  is 
the  Catholic  faith:  which  except  a  man  believe 
faithfully,  he  can  not  be  saved."  Can  the  arro- 
gant dogmatism  encounter  anything  but  ridicule? 

The  challenge  is  fair ;  but  the  Christian  answer 
is  simple.  No  one  defends  any  longer  the 
Athanasian  attitude  toward  the  unbeliever;  but 
the  Christian  is  none  the  less  quite  sure  that  the 
symbol  of  the  Trinity,  as  found  in  that  glorious 
Athanasian  Hymn  of  Praise,  is  the  noblest  ex'- 
pression  of  man's  best  and  richest  religious 
thought  which  has  ever  yet  been  evolved.     Hb 


222  Social  Teachings 

easily  perceives  that  the  doctrine  is  not  explicitly 
found  in  the  words  of  Christ  or  even  of  Paul ;  but 
he  has  only  to  read  the  passages  appointed  for 
Epistle  and  Gospel  on  Trinity  Sunday  to  perceive 
also  that  it  is  an  inevitable  inference  from  the 
Scriptures. 

His  faith,  however,  is  based  far  more  deeply 
than  on  Scriptural  authority  alone.  The  more  he 
examines  the  Trinitarian  formula,  in  its  seemingly 
preposterous  paradox,  the  more  he  discerns  that 
it  comprehends  marvellously  all  elements  which 
have  been  vital  at  any  stage  of  race-experience. 
His  conviction  grows  that  no  fruitful  thinking  on 
Divine  Mysteries  has  yet  escaped  the  confines  of 
Trinitarian  faith,  however  unconscious  men  have 
been  of  the  relation,  and  he  is  inclined  to  think 
that  all  new  speculation,  so  far  as  it  is  based  on 
experience  of  spiritual  reality,  will  continue  to  be 
provided  for  within  these  confines.  The  Chris- 
tian loyal  to  Catholic  tradition  has  no  difficulty 
in  believing  that  the  constant  prayer  of  the 
Church  has  been  answered,  and  that  the  Spirit 
has  taught  her  the  true  Hallowing  of  the  Name. 

To  demonstrate  this  bold  statement  would  take 
another  book  than  this.  Only  a  few  hints,  humbly 
proffered,  can  be  given  here. 

It  has  just  been  noticed  how  constantly  the 


Trinity-Tide  223 

double  craving  for  Unity  and  for  Multiplicity  lias 
marked  religious  and  philosophical  speculation. 
Plain  monotheism  satisfies  scientific  minds  less 
and  less;  it  will  be  recalled  that  William  James 
was  so  well  aware  of  this  fact  that  he  recom- 
mended Polytheism  as  the  more  rational  religion ! 
Yet  ordinary  polytheism,  with  a  number  of  sep- 
arate and  independent  deities  reclining  on  Olym- 
pus or  intervening  often  at  cross-purposes  in 
human  aflfairs,  is  not  likely  to  revive. 

The  interdependence  and  unity  of  life  become 
miore  striking  from  the  revelations  of  every 
laboratory.  Our  own  being,  if  we  look  within,  is 
multiplex,  though  the  whirl  of  concentric  person- 
alities apparently,  under  conditions  of  health, 
focusses  in  one  centre.  Here  is  a  mystery  into 
which  at  our  present  stage  of  knowledge  it  is  dan- 
gerous for  most  of  us  to  peer;  but  psychology,  no 
less  than  metaphysics  and  science,  drives  us  to 
recognize  that  Unity  is  not  so  simple  a  matter  as 
naif  speculation  assu^nes.  Many,  yet  one, — one- 
ness in  maaiyness, — only  this  paradox  can  express 
the  truth  of  personality  human  or  divine. 

Again:  the  hope  of  the  ages  has  clung,  now  to 
an  Infinite  Purity  untouched  by  the  imperfections 
of  this  universe,  abiding  in  primal  light  and  calm 
and  joy:  now  to  a  human  God,  subject  to  mortal 
struggle,  divine  in  virtue  of  suffering,  limitation, 


224  Social  Teachings 

and  growth;  now  to  an  all-pervading  Spirit, 
slowly  coming  to  its  own  through  the  dross  of 
matter.  None  of  these  conceptions  can  be  sacri- 
ficed. Cautious  philosophers  may  bid  us  fling  the 
Absolute  on  the  scrap  heap  of  ideological  waste ; 
but  plain  people  will  never  rest  without  it: 
theologians  of  some  types  bid  us  discard  a  limited 
God;  but  plain  people  insist  that  only  with  this 
kind  of  God  can  they  take  comfort  and  find  fellow- 
ship. However  the  infinite  distance  of  the  Creator 
from  His  creation  may  be  stressed,  plain  people 
know  themselves  to  share  an  undivided  life,  and 
feel  this  life  sweep  in  plastic  stress  throughout 
the  universe.  All  these  ideas  must  be  synthesized 
in  an  idea  of  Deity  which  can  offer  a  man  some- 
thing to  pray  to,  no  matter  by  what  path  his  pil- 
grim feet  follow  the  eternal  quest. 

Can  any  one  suggest  a  better  means  of  satis- 
fying the  very  real,  pragmatic  needs  of  brain  and 
heart  than  that  afforded  by  the  ancient  doctrine? 
These  are  not  recondite  reflections  fit  for  a  theo- 
logical seminary;  they  are  the  obvious  thoughts  of 
a  simple  Christian,  as  he  sings  his  Holy,  Holy, 
Holy,  recites  his  Apostles'  Creed,  or  receives  the 
benediction  of  the  grace  of  Christ,  the  love  of 
God,  the  fellowship  of  the  Spirit.  The  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity  is  like  all  doctrines,  tentative  and 
symbolic;  but  it  is  the  most  practical  doctrine 


Trinity-Tide  225 

ever  formulated.  It  does  not  attempt  to  solve 
any  mystery,  it  states  nothing  about  the  how, 
the  method,  of  the  union  of  manyness  in  oneness^. 
It  simply  corresponds  to  experience.  It  sum- 
marizes and  fuses  the  aspirations  of  the  ages; 
each  new  discovery  of  our  nature  or  the  nature  of 
physical  life  corroborates  it.  And  the  race  has 
not  grown  up  to  it  yet. 

For,  if  Trinitarian  thought  is  the  best  reflection 
of  religious  experience  in  the  past,  it  as  surely 
points  to  the  future ;  and  only  in  that  future  can 
it  thoroughly  come  to  its  own. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  has  been  the  chief 
force  which  has  slowly  instilled  democracy  into 
the  world.  This  assertion  will  seem  grotesque 
and  fantastic  enough  to  the  outsider;  but  the 
Christian  should  see  the  truth  of  it  at  once. 

In  the  first  place,  the  great  reality  which  the 
doctrine  presses  home  is  that  Love  is  in  its  nature 
eternal  and  absolute.  This  assurance  the  Theist, 
whether  Unitarian  or  Jew,  must,  it  would  seem, 
hold  with  more  hesitancy,  except  by  an  assump- 
tion which  saves  his  faith  at  the  expense  of  his 
reason.  Sentiment  aside,  nature  and  history  bear 
quite  inadequate  witness  to  a  God  of  Love,  how- 
ever inexorably  they  suggest  a  God  of  Law.  To 
enable  us  to  believe  in  **L'Amor  che  muove  il  sole 


226  Social  Teachings 

e  Paltre  stelle/'  revelation  must  supplement  ob- 
servation. And  revelation,  short  of  the  full  Cath- 
olic conception,  is  incomplete.  Monotheism  at 
best  contemplates  a  self-existent  and  self-sufficing 
Deity,  who  in  the  dark  backward  and  abysm  of 
Time  was  moved  to  create  a  universe:  and  the 
reflection  arises  that  in  the  eternity  which  under- 
lies time  and  precedes  it,  He  must  have  been  either 
a  very  cold  Deity  or  a  very  pathetic  one.  Love,  to 
such  thinking,  is  accident  rather  than  substance  in 
the  Divine  Nature ;  or  at  least,  if  one  tries  to  think 
of  the  Creator  at  all  apart  from  His  creation,  one 
perceives  within  His  Being  the  quality,  rather 
than  the  activity,  of  love.  But  the  love  on  which 
we  lean  must  be  more  than  this.  It  must  be  at 
the  source  of  things,  primal,  creative,  from  all 
eternity.    God  is  Love. 

Love,  as  we  know  from  our  own  hampered  ex- 
perience, implies  interaction  among  diverse  cen- 
tres of  consciousness.  According  to  formal  logic, 
such  centres  are  incompatible  with  unity :  accord- 
ing to  our  most  intimate  contact  with  life,  they 
are  necessary  to  it:  for  real  Oneness  can  never 
be  realized  in  isolation.  That  is  quite  as  great  a 
paradox  on  the  human  plane  as  on  the  divine.  We 
realize  the  fullness  of  our  own  being  only  when 
we  are  conjoined  in  love  to  other  beings,  and  gain 
our  best  hints  of  unity  and  completeness  of  life  in 


Trinity-Tide  227 

sacred  flashes  when  hearts  and  minds,  retaining 
their  separateness,  through  their  very  separation 
realize  the  mystery  and  miracle  of  fusion.  Such 
flashes  are  rare  and  fugitive;  it  is  possible  that 
many  people  are  never  visited  by  them.  But  they 
are  real,  they  do  happen;  and  a  suggestion  is 
in  them  of  the  Divine  interweavings  wherein  the 
full  richness  of  Infinitude  must  abide. 

Three  Persons  in  One  God!  The  phrase  is  an 
obsolete  scholastic  absurdity  to  shallow  modems ; 
yet  no  other  symbol  could  so  well  express  the 
report  of  human  experience  as  to  the  only  sort 
of  Oneness  which  can  be  substantial  and  complete. 
The  practical,  satisfying,  quality  of  the  doctrine 
has  been  discerned  by  Christian  experience  all 
down  the  ages.  Eichard  of  S.  Victor  ^  worked  the 
matter  out  with  exquisite  insight  in  a  passage 
found  in  English  form  in  the  fourteenth  century 
Mirror  of  St.  Edmund: — 

**Dere  frend,  thou  art  to  wit  there  is  but  One 
Godde.  And  thou  art  to  wit  that  no  good  may  fail 
in  Godde ;  but  bycause  that  swete  thing  and  good 
thing  is  comfort  of  fellawschippe  therefore  may 
not  Godde  be  withoute  goodnesse  of  fellawschippe. 
Then  behooveth  it  that  there  were  many  persons 
in  Godde  the  Heyest  Goodnesse.  .  .  .  And  bycause 

*De  Trinitate,  III,  2,  III,  11.     Cited  in  E.  Gardner's  transla- 
tion.    The  Book  of  St.  Bernard  on  the  Love  of  God,  p.  169. 


228  Social  Teachings 

that  Onehead  is  good  and  Manyhead  also,  there- 
fore it  behooved  that  Onehead  and  Manyhead  both 
were  in  Godde.  And  by  this  skill  comes  man  to 
the  knowing  of  Godde,  that  He  is  a  Godde  in  Him- 
self and  TJhree  in  Persons.'^  * 

And  here  is  a  modem  Bishop : — 

*^The  uncaused  self-existent  Eternal  is  indeed, 
One,  One  God.  But  within  the  bright  shrine 
and  sanctuary  of  Godhead,  there  is  more-than- 
oneness.  Deity  is  no  bright  solitude,  but  the  Scene 
of  mutual  affection.  Deity  contains  forever  the 
mighty  flow  and  movement  of  an  infinite  Life  of 
responding  interacting  Love. ' '  ^ 

But  among  non-inspired  writers,  Dante  regards 
the  Mystery  with  most  enlightened  as  with  most 
profound  adoration :  — 

**0  grace  abounding  whereby  I  presumed  to  fix 
my  look  on  the  eternal  light,  so  long  that  I  con- 
sumed my  sight  therein !  Within  its  depths  I  saw 
ingathered,  bound  by  Love  in  one  volume,  the 
scattered  leaves  of  all  the  universe.  0  Light 
Eternal,  Who  only  in  Thyself  abidest,  only  Thy- 
self dost  understand,  and  to  Thyself  self-under- 
stood, self -understanding,  turnest  love  and  smil- 
ing!''^ 

*  Richard  Bolle  of  Hampole.  Ed.  C.  Horstmana.  Swan  Son- 
nenschein,  1895.     I,  238  .{slightly  modernized). 

*  Bishop  Monte:  Quoted  in  The  Sacred  Lessons.  Duttons, 
p.  197. 

•Paradise,  XXXIII. 


Trinity-Tide  229 

Such  reflections  on  the  eternal  outgoings  of 
Love  which  faith  discerns  in  the  heart  of  Deity 
are  well  summed  up  in  the  succinct,  pregnant 
phrase  of  Phillips  Brooks :  '  *  That  social  thought 
of  God  which  we  call  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. ' ' 
As  another  modem  thinker  has  said,  the  Christian 
ideal  is  not  a  divine  Person  but  a  divine  Society. 

So  far,  we  have  been  dwelling  on  the  partial 
truth  that  man  makes  God  in  his  own  image.  But, 
for  faith,  there  is  a  deeper  meaning  in  the  recip- 
rocal truth  and  in  the  opposite  sequence.  We 
Christians  believe  that  as  man  is  forever  seeking 
to  know  God,  so  God  is  forever  seeking  to  reveal 
Himself  to  man:  and  the  successive  conceptions 
of  Deity  all  represent  a  meeting-point  of  human 
strivings  (colored  as  they  must  be  by  temporal 
conditions),  and  of  Divine  manifestation.  For  us, 
moreover,  the  Divine  Power  has  triumphed  in  the 
work  of  the  Spirit  of  Pentecost,  through  whom  a 
revelation  of  the  Divine  Nature  has  been  given, 
as  perfect  and  permanent  as  our  poor  mortality 
can  apprehend.  ^^Howbeit  when  He,  the  Spirit 
of  Truth  is  come.  He  shall  guide  you  into  all  the 
truth:  for  He  shall  not  speak  from  Himself;  but 
whatsoever  He  shall  hear,  these  shall  He  speak. 
.  .  .  Be  shall  glorify  Me;  for  He  shall  take  of 
Mine  and  shall  declare  it  unto  you.     All  things 


230  Social  Teachings 

whatsoever  the  Father  hath  are  Mine.'^  We  dare 
to  believe  that  the  promise  is  fulfilled,  and  that, 
in  Holy  Writ  and  in  the  Mind  of  the  Church,  can 
be  found  not  merely  the  record  of  our  own  desires, 
but  shining  glimpses  of  Eeality. 

''Let  Us  make  Man  in  Our  image,"  says  the 
mystical  account  of  the  Creation.  However  schol- 
arship may  account  for  the  strange  plural  by  the 
dim  polytheistic  suggestion  in  the  Elohim  term, 
the  Christian  mind  sees  here  at  lowest  the  as- 
sumption that  the  idea  of  God  is  the  norm  by 
which  human  society  must  be  shaped,  the  type  to 
which  it  must  ultimately  conform. 

Perhaps  for  some  of  the  reasons  already  given. 
Trinities  have  satisfied  groping  devotion  in  many 
an  ancient  religion.  Nevertheless,  it  would  seem 
hardly  short  of  a  miracle  that  such  an  idea  as  the 
Christian  Trinity  should  have  been  formulated 
in  the  fourth  century,  and  a  continued  miracle 
that  throughout  the  period  of  imperialist  or  feudal 
autocracy,  the  Church  should  have  cherished  a 
conception  to  which  so  little  in  the  life  of  Society 
or  the  State  could  be  said  to  correspond. 

In  such  divergence  of  the  concept  of  God  from 
anything  which  could  have  emanated  from  below, 
the  Church  finds  evidence  of  the  Divine  Impress 
on  her  mind,  or,  to  use  a  rather  discredited  word, 
of  inspiration.    The  doctrine  was  pregnant  with 


Trinity-Tide  231 

prophetic  meanings;  but  it  is  only  today,  as 
democracy  comes  to  its  own,  that  these  meanings 
can  he  fully  perceived.  The  time  has  come  to  at- 
tain the  consummate  adoration  of  the  Triune  God 
by  shaping  our  human  relationships  in  His  Like- 
ness. 

What  was  Athanasius  doing  when  he  fought  his 
great  fight  for  the  Homoousion?  Nothing  more 
important  than  this :  he  was  defending  the  truth 
yet  unborn  that  social  harmony  depends  not  on 
differentiation  of  rank  but  on  diversity  of  func- 
tion. The  great  Creed  associated  with  the  name 
of  the  saint  is  a  magnificent  manifesto  of  faith  in 
social  equality:  *'The  glory  equal,  the  majesty 
co-eternal.  .  .  .  And  in  this  Trinity  none  is  afore 
or  after  other;  none  is  greater  or  less  than  an- 
other, but  the  whole  three  Persons  are  co-eternal 
together  and  co-equal  so  that  in  all  things  as  is 
aforesaid,  the  Unity  in  Trinity  and  Trinity  in 
Unity  is  to  be  worshipped.'' 

Wise  and  glorious  words.  For  in  truth,  that 
perpetual  interchange  of  love  which  is  the  life  of 
the  Divine  Unity,  is  possible  only  between  equals. 
There  is  a  love  which  stoops,  there  is  a  love  which 
adores;  but  the  ultimate  and  primal  love  is  no 
mere  impulse  of  Creator  toward  created.  It  is 
no  dependence  of  inferior  on  superior.  It  flows 
from  heart  to  heart,  in  one  circle  forever  re- 


232  Social  Teachings 

newed.  And  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  Ever- 
Blessed  Trinity  results  from  no  scholastic  split- 
ting of  hairs  but  from  the  true  though  in- 
adequately expressed  intuition  of  the  highest  type 
of  social  life.  Christian  thinking,  in  the  stage  on 
which  it  is  just  beginning  to  enter,  discovers 
amazed  in  the  ancient  doctrine  the  conception  of 
the  Nature  of  Deity  best  adapted  to  inspire  social 
progress  and  to  be  the  soul  of  the  new  world 
toward  which  we  move. 

The  task  of  the  ages  is  to  evolve  a  society  which 
shall  subsist  in  a  unity  of  love  that  shall  bear 
some  likeness  to  the  Divine  Nature  in  Whose 
Image  we  are  made.  But  this  task  must  be  slowly 
fulfilled.  It  could  not  be  fairly  envisaged,  even, 
until  the  evil  of  social  inequalities  was  clearly 
perceived,  and  the  face  of  man  was  turned  toward 
the  Cooperative  Commonwealth.  During  feudal 
times,  the  necessity  for  inequality  as  the  basis  of 
civilization  was  never  questioned  by  practical 
men.  Christian  philosophers  like  Marsiglio  of 
Padua  and  Wyclif,  to  be  sure,  developed  daring 
communistic   ideas.^     But  the  common   run   of 

*It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  the  Spiritual  Franciscans 
from  whom  these  men  derive,  social  radicalism  is  associated 
with  immanential  and  pantheistic  heresies:  another  witness  that 
emphasis  on  the  work  of  the  Spirit  leads  to  democratic  and 
egalitarian  ideas. 


Trinity-Tide  233 

mediaeval  thought,  ignoring  the  latent  implica- 
tions of  theology,  conceived  God  as  a  great  Auto- 
crat, from  Whom  authority  descended  in  grades, 
by  a  system  supposed  to  ensure  social  stability 
in  accord  with  divine  law. 

It  was  a  noble  system  in  its  day;  but  it  broke 
up.  Coincident,  broadly  speaking,  with  the  decay 
of  feudalism  and  the  birth  of  democracy,  came  a 
new  sense  of  the  Divine  Immanence ;  modern  civili- 
zation has  realized  in  a  measure  that  dispensation 
of  the  Spirit  which  completes  the  dispensation 
of  the  Father  and  the  Son.  Eeligious  intuition 
and  social  institutions  altered  together ;  a  people 
adoring  the  Blessed  Trinity  could  never,  in  the 
long  run,  hold  to  a  monarchical  society  of  graded 
ranks;  and  by  the  reverse  truth,  no  monarchical 
conception  could  satisfy  a  socialized  world.  In 
the  ultimate  Christian  vision,  as  in  the  social  faith 
of  the  free  nations,  there  is  no  room  for  aristo- 
cratic principles  or  for  confidence  in  an  autocracy. 

Thus  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity  has  down 
the  ages  borne  firm  unrecognized  witness  to 
democracy;  and  as  the  democratic  leaven  works, 
the  time  ripens  for  full  understanding  of  the 
social  implications  of  Christian  thought.  While 
Deity  was  thought  of  as  separate  from  His  world, 
the  doctrine  might  well  seem  unreal  and  obsolete. 
But  the  Threefold  Name  becomes  the  heavenly 


234  Social  Teachings 

prototype  of  eartlily  society,  as  soon  as  we  recog- 
nize God  to  be  the  Spirit  within  as  well  as  the 
Father  and  the  Redeemer ;,  and  our  Christian  duty 
is  plainly  seen  to  be  the  release  and  reproduction 
of  the  Divine  Nature  in  the  corporate  life  of  the 
race.  For  the  final  relation  of  man  to  his  God  is 
not  submission  or  subjection,  but  re-creation. 

As  Christian  men  learn  this  high  concept  of 
their  duty,  they  will  receive  plain  guidance  in 
political  and  social  energies.  The  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  furnishes  the  norm  of  the  relationships 
we  must  establish  and  the  functions  we  must  per- 
form ;  it  is  the  Image  of  the  only  society  in  which 
we  dare  to  rest.  The  Church,  if  she  will  rise  to  the 
height  of  her  great  argument,  can  reveal  democ- 
racy to  itself  in  all  its  spiritual  glory.  She  stead- 
fastly holds  up  to  adoration  a  unity  of  interacting 
Powers,  wherein  is  no  higher  nor  lower  but  func- 
tions varying  and  ranks  coordinate,  and  in  so  do- 
ing, she  presents  a  truth  far  ahead  of  what  the 
State  has  realized.  She  discredits  forever  to 
Christian  logic  the  fallacy  that  real  progress  can 
be  secured  and  valid  incentives  obtained  by  compe- 
tition and  inequality.  The  Creative  Life  of  God 
is  the  model  and  example  for  man ;  only  a  society 
of  equals  can  reflect  the  perfect  energies  of  per- 
fect love ;  and  as  the  Church  gains  self-knowledge, 


Trinity-Tide  235 

she  must  range  herself  with  the  most  advanced 
egalitarian  tendencies.  When  she  so  obstinately 
rejected  the  early  heresies  which  tried  to  establish 
distinctions  within  the  Divine  Glory,  she  was  un- 
consciously furnishing  a  standard  by  which  all 
political  and  social  movements  must  be  judged. 
She  was  preparing  the  way  for  that  social  ideal 
which  has  at  last  entered  the  arena  of  practical 
politics,  and  is  struggling  for  victory  in  every 
civilized  land.  Should  that  ideal  triumph,  the 
Church  has  nothing  to  fear.  She  will  find  herself 
in  harmony  as  never  before  with  Society  and  with 
the  State. 

Surely  the  American  divine,  Alexander  V.  G. 
Allen,  was  right  when  he  spoke  in  ringing  words 
of  *Hhat  ancient  Catholic  charter  of  human  free- 
dom, the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity." 

This  diversity  of  function  which  faith  discerns 
in  the  Infinite  and  Eternal  Energy, — ^what  is  it? 
Here  too  we  can  find  help  for  the  shaping  of 
our  mortal  life.  The  Church  forever  adores  the 
Creative  Force  which  is  perpetual  Fatherhood, 
the  redemptive  Force  through  which  ravaged  cre- 
ation is  restored,  the  sanctifying  Force  by  which 
it  is  sustained.  This  is  the  eternal  Outgoing  from 
the  Eternal  Life,  in  threefold  guise.    And  human- 


236  Social  Teachings 

ity  should  conform  in  all  its  varying  activities  to 
one  or  another  phase  of  this  flux  of  life  within  the 
Godhead.  Creating,  redeeming,  sanctifying, — 
this  is  our  human  business.  Energies  which  can 
not  come  under  one  of  these  heads  are  at  least 
open  to  suspicion;  and  a  society  in  which  these 
three  energies  proceed  in  healthful  harmony,  will 
possess  all  conceivable  richness  of  life. 

Creative  power  in  humanity  shows  itself  of 
course  only  in  a  secondary  and  derivative  way. 
Yet  to  look  at  a  wheat-field  is  to  realize  that  it  is 
given  us  to  cooperate  with  life, — enhancing, 
directing,  releasing.  Cities,  bridges,  the  shaping 
touch  of  the  teacher  on  the  mind  of  the  taught, — 
*'the  flash  of  the  Will  that  Can,''  not  only  in 
music,  but  in  every  form  of  art, — all  these  attest 
our  immediate  share  in  creative  power. 

But  since  we  live,  as  Deity  must  also  live,  in  a 
world  fallen  and  perverted,  we  are  privileged  to 
be  one  not  only  with  creating,  but  also  with  re- 
deeming love.  What  vast  human  activities  are 
thus  united,  thence  inspired !  Philanthropy,  med- 
ical work,  all  direct  spiritual  activity  aiming  at 
the  conversion  of  sinners,  every  energy  of  restora- 
tion and  renewal,  reflect  the  redemptive  phase  of 
the  Divine  Nature.  It  is  the  unprecedented  de- 
velopment of  these  energies  which  has  given 
Christian  civilization  its  distinctive  character ;  as 


Trinity-Tide  237 

is  natural  in  a  religion  which  is  especially  and 
characteristically  the  Faith  of  the  Cross. 

And  as  we  may  in  our  measure  create,  and  in 
union  with  Christ  restore,  so  by  virtue  of  the 
Spirit  within  us,  it  is  granted  us  to  sustain.  All 
energies  which  go  to  the  inspiration  and  contin- 
uance of  institutions,  or  to  the  maintaining  of  per- 
sonal life:  all  forward  looking  adventures  which 
seek  the  progressive  release  of  the  divine  life 
through  the  human,  are  one  with  the  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God. 

As  men  choose  their  place  according  to  their  re- 
spective aptitudes  in  these  multiform  and  glorious 
types  of  activity,  they  help  the  Divine  self-expres- 
sion. Creation,  restoration,  maintenance, — they 
are  the  great  social  functions,  derived,  as  Catho- 
lic faith  discerns,  from  the  very  Name  of  the  Most 
High. 

To  compare  this  Name  with  the  world  we  know 
is  to  be  filled  with  dismay.  There  are  abundant 
uses  for  our  energy  outside  the  scope  suggested. 
There  is  energy  which  destroys  rather  than  cre- 
ates, which  poisons  rather  than  restores,  which 
congeals  rather  than  releases  the  springs  of  life. 
Of  late  years,  such  energy  has  seemed  to  dominate 
the  world,  while  the  works  of  consolation,  relief 
and  reconstruction,  vast  in  themselves,  have 
dwindled  to  nothing  in  comparison.     Moreover, 


238  Social  Teachings 

even  in  times  of  peace  and  prosperity,  civilization 
is  in  no  sense  a  mirror  of  the  life  of  God.  For 
those  distinctions  of  rank,  wealth,  privilege,  to 
which  we  blindly  cling,  have  no  prototype  in  the 
Catholic  thought  of  the  Divine  Nature. 

These  things  are  the  Enemy.  They  are  the 
shadow  cast  upon  our  mortal  plane  from  that 
Dark  Power  forever  opposed  to  the  Father  of 
Lights.  The  Christian  Church  is  here  to  fight 
them  with  her  might;  and  whatever  our  dismay, 
we  have  no  reason  for  despair.  Social  intuition, 
outside  the  Churches,  is  growing  up  to  the  great 
intuitions  of  Christianity;  and  as  soon  as  Chris- 
tians understand  better  what  is  implied  in  their 
own  doctrines,  and  join  forces  with  all  activity, 
from  whatever  source,  which  presses  toward  the 
purpose  of  their  Lord,  a  new  day  will  dawn.  They 
will  see  without  possibility  of  question,  where  to 
align  themselves  in  the  welter  of  modern  thought ; 
and  they  will  devote  themselves  wholly  and  only 
to  such  activities  as  find  sanction  in  the  Activity 
of  God.  They  will  be  centrally  concerned  with 
the  progressive  hallowing  of  the  Holy  Name, 
through  the  reproduction  of  the  Divine  Nature  and 
the  Divine  Energies  in  the  soqial  order.  In  pro- 
portion as  they  so  shape  and  limit  their  lives,  they 
will  build  on  earth  the  New  Jerusalem :  the  Ideal 


Trinity-Tide  239 

Commonwealth  which  needs  no  temple  because  il- 
lumined by  the  fire  of  sacrificial  love. 

On  Trinity  Sunday,  the  Church  calls  us  to  join 
in  the  worship  of  all  creation,  perpetual  behind 
the  veil  of  sense.  Humanity  and  the  lower  orders 
of  being  are  united  with  the  Godhead  in  perfect 
harmony ;  the  mystic  Beasts  are  drawn  within  the 
very  arcana;  for  they  are  *4n  the  midst  of  the 
throne"  as  well  as  around  it;  and,  full  of  eyes 
within,  dowered  with  inward  sight,  they  join  with 
humanity  at  its  wisest,  in  singing  for  ever  the 
Holy,  Holy,  Holy  of  a  world  redeemed.  Theirs  is 
the  consummation  of  desire,  the  Vision,  before,  be- 
hind, within,  of  Very  Love.  **  Every  thing  that 
lives,  is  holy, ' '  said  William  Blake,  in  a  dangerous 
paradox  of  supreme  audacity;  perhaps  he  had 
shared  the  vision  of  those  in  the  midst  of  the 
Throne,  who  see  eternal  Eeality.  For  Trinity 
leads  us  through  the  shows  of  things  into  the 
sanctuary  of  abiding  truth ;  and  for  a  moment,  as 
we  keep  the  Feast,  we  children  of  process  escape 
our  finitude.  There  is  a  burning  peace  to  Trinity- 
Tide: 

*^ Hitherto  we  have  celebrated  His  great  works; 
henceforth  we  magnify  Himself.  Now,  for  twenty- 
five  weeks  we  represent  in  figure  what  is  to  be 


240  Social  Teachings 

hereafter.  We  enter  into  our  rest,  by  entering  in 
with  Him  Who,  having  wrought  and  suffered,  has 
opened  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  to  all  believers. 
For  half  a  year  we  stand  still,  as  if  occupied  solely 
in  adoring  Him,  and  with  the  Seraphim  in  the 
text  crying,  'Holy,  Holy,  Holy'  continually.  .  .  . 
After  Christmas,  Easter  and  Whitsuntide  come 
Trinity  Sunday  and  the  weeks  that  follow;  and  in 
like  manner,  after  our  souPs  anxious  travail;, 
after  the  birth  of  the  Spirit ;  after  trial  and  temp- 
tation ;  after  sorrow  and  pain ;  after  daily  dyings 
to  the  world;  after  daily  risings  unto  holiness; 
at  length  comes  that  ^rest  which  remaineth'  unto 
the  people  of  God.  "  ^ 

^* Occupied  solely  in  adoring  Him":  yes;  and 
the  best  adoration  is  the  fulfilment  of  simplest 
duty.  The  study  of  practical  ethics,  to  which  the 
last  half  of  the  Christian  Year  is  devoted,  is  car- 
ried on  in  the  tranquillity  of  full  understanding 
and  of  attained  vision.  Having  summoned  us  to 
give  our  thanks  and  to  sing  our  Trisagion  with 
the  mystic  Fellowship  of  the  Redeemed,  and  with 
all  visible  creation.  Mother  Church  has  taught  us 
all  she  knows.  Very  serenely,  very  ardently,  we 
are  henceforth  to  learn  under  her  guidance  to 
apply  that  knowledge.     None  the  less,  her  Mys- 

*  John  Henry  Newman:  ** Parochial  and  Plain  Sermons/'  p.  369. 
Eivingtons,  1869. 


Trinity-Tide  241 

teries  are  never  fathomed,  never  exhausted;  les- 
sons learned  must  be  forever  learned  once  more, 
and  the  truths  she  teaches  flash  a  new  light  in  each 
generation.  In  due  time,  patiently  and  eagerly, 
she  will  call  us  to  begin  the  great  Sequence  once 
again. 


CHAPTER  X:    THE   EUCHAEIST 


Antiphon :  I  am  the  Living  Bread  which 
came  down  from  Heaven :  if  any  man  eat  of 
this  Bread,  he  shall  live  forever.    Alleluia. 

V.  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that  travail 
and  are  heavy  laden, 

R.  And  I  will  refresh  you. 

We  offer  and  present  unto  Thee,  0  Lord, 
ourselves,  our  souls  and  bodies,  to  be  a  rea- 
sonable, holy,  and  living  sacrifice  unto 
Thee;  humbly  beseeching  Thee,  that  we, 
and  all  others  who  shall  be  partakers  of 
this  Holy  Communion,  may  worthily  re- 
ceive the  most  precious  Body  and  Blood 
of  Thy  Son  Jesus  Christ,  be  filled  with  Thy 
grace  and  heavenly  benediction,  and  made 
one  body  with  Him,  that  He  may  dwell  in 
us  and  we  in  Him.  Amen. 


CHAPTER  X:    THE   EUCHAEIST 

THE  rhythm  on  which  the  beauty  of  language 
depends  results  from  a  continuous  inter- 
weaving of  constants  and  variables;  and  the 
deeper  beauty  of  either  speech  or  song  springs 
from  the  subtlety  of  the  interweaving.  Nor  is 
this  law  true  of  language  only.  The  call  of 
rhythm  is  one  of  the  deepest  to  which  men  re- 
spond, and  all  loveliness,  whether  of  the  Spring 
or  of  the  stars,  obeys  it.  That  hidden  rhythm 
which  is  the  pulse  of  the  Breath  of  God  through 
all  things,  creates  the  harmony  of  the  world ;  and 
as  the  insight  of  philosophy  grows  more  profound, 
as  the  insight  of  science  grows  keener,  they  dis- 
cern and  reveal  more  clearly  the  immutable  per- 
manence of  proportion  and  relation  which  under- 
lies all  the  seeming  chaos  and  confusion  of  form 
in  the  visible  universe.  The  old  Greeks  were 
sound  in  their  intuitions: — 

**In  all  God's  works, — (as  Plato  cries 
He  doth), — He  should  geometrize.'* 

What  is  true  of  Nature  is  true  of  all  noble  art; 

245 


246  Social  Teachings 

and  nothing  responds  more  perfectly  than  the 
great  art  of  Catholic  worship,  to  this  mystery  of 
rhythm,  with  its  changes  and  modulations  depend- 
ent on  an  unchanging  base.  In  the  Church  Year, 
the  colors  on  the  Altar  from  Advent  violet  to  the 
scarlet  of  Christmas  and  Whitsuntide,  the  white 
of  Easter,  the  green  of  Trinity,  are  vestments  for 
the  varying  passion  o?  the  soul:  and  the  sequence 
of  Christian  experience,  following  the  Footsteps 
of  Christ  from  Bethlehem  to  Calvary,  meets  our 
innate  need  for  movement,  purpose,  quest.  But 
the  other  need  of  permanence  is  also  met;  it  is  on 
the  One  Altar  that  the  changing  colors  glow,  and 
the  successive  phases  of  Christian  emotion  all 
rest  there  like  homing  birds ;  finding  their  centre 
and  their  goal  before  the  Perpetual  Sacrifice,  in 
adoration  of  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world. 

Week  by  week  the  varying  Collects,  Epistles 
and  Gospels  which  we  have  studied  with  such  lov- 
ing care,  are  preludes  to  the  unaltered  Canon  of 
the  Eucharist, — the  most  ancient  as  it  is  the  most 
enduring  portion  of  the  Liturgy.  Now  and  again, 
on  the  chief  festal  days, — Christmas,  Easter, 
Ascension,  Whitsunday  and  Trinity, — the  feeling 
of  the  season  penetrates  the  very  sanctuary,  and 
imparts   special   intention   to   the   ever-repeated 


The  Eucharist  247 

Sanctus  of  which  neither  angels  nor  men  can 
weary.  But  the  Eucharistio  worship  as  a  whole 
does  not  alter.  It  is  the  fundamental  factor  in 
the  eternal  rhythm;  it  supplies  in  the  Catholic 
and  supernatural  life  what  the  imperfectly  dis- 
cerned realities  of  mathematical  proportion  sup- 
ply to  the  growth  and  movement  of  the  visible 
world. 

Here  at  the  Altar,  devotion  sees  the  centre  and 
focus  of  all  the  truths  taught  by  successive  sea- 
sons. Here  these  truths  are  suddenly  and  glor- 
iously revealed  as  no  mere  commemoration  of  past 
history,  but  as  living  and  eternal  fact.  We  ' '  show 
forth  the  Lord's  death  till  He  come,"  and  so  re- 
iterate the  Advent  hope,  recalling  the  promise  in 
the  Upper  Chamber  that  He  will  eat  with  us  the 
fruit  of  the  Vine,  new,  in  the  Kingdom  of  His 
Father.  The  Eucharist  is  Bethlehem  made  per- 
petual, a  continual  Incarnation,  as  Old  Masters 
knew  well  when  they  filled  the  Manger  of  the  Babe 
with  a  bed  of  ripe  wheat  ears.  Eedemption  is 
consummated  in  the  endless  sacrifice  of  Him  Who 
is  both  Priest  and  Victim;  yet  the  Food  of  Im- 
mortality preserves  body  and  soul  unto  everlast- 
ing life  in  the  eternal  Easter.  The  Word  and 
Holy  Spirit  forever  consecrate  these  elements, 
that  they  may  renew  within  us  the  Sevenfold 


248  Social  Teachings 

Gift.  And  here  supremely  at  the  Altar  the  faith- 
ful chant  their  Sanctus,  Sanctus,  Sanctus,  adoring 
the  Blessed  Trinity  Who  unites  them  with  Him- 
self through  their  union  with  the  Sacred  Human- 
ity of  God  sacrificed  for  men. 

It  is  on  Holy  Thursday  that  the  historic  sense 
of  the  Church  naturally  bids  us  remember  the 
Institution  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  Eoman 
Communion,  always  enlarging  on  the  implications 
of  primitive  faith,  sets  apart  in  August  her  Corpus 
Christi  Day,  that  when  ^Hhe  fields  are  white  to 
harvest"  men  may  see 

''As  in  a  glass,  the  timeless  mystery 

Of  love  whereby  we  feed 

On  God,  our  Bread  indeed. '^  ^ 

Yet  a  special  Festival  is  hardly  needed,  since  week 
by  week  the  Eucharistic  Feast,  inexhaustible  cen- 
tre of  mystic  experience,  incandescent  with  the 
love  of  God,  welcomes  the  faithful  to  the  vision 
of  Eternal  Truth  behind  the  Sacramental  Veil. 

What  are  the  social  emphases  in  this  crowning 
Feast,  wherein  our  triumph  and  our  sorrow  meet, 
and  the  personal  life  of  the  soul  finds  its  most 
sacred  expression? 

*  Evelyn  XJnderliill :  Corpus  Christi. 


The  Eucharist  249 

If  we  examine  the  Office  of  Holy  Communioii  in 
the  Prayer-Book,  we  shall  find  that  even  in  a 
superficial  way  these  emphases  are  not  neglected. 
They  are  particularly  clear  in  the  introductory 
portion,  preceding  the  ancient  Anaphora  or  Canon 
of  the  Mass  which  opens  with  the  Sursum  Corda. 
The  refreshingly  explicit  moral  sense  of  the 
Eeformation  has  put  its  impress  on  all  this  part 
of  the  Service.  The  initiate  who  would  draw  near 
to  the  central  Christian  Mysteries  is  not  prepared, 
as  in  Oriental  cults,  by  isolation  from  his  fellows. 
No  self -mortification  nor  psychical  disciplines  are 
proposed  to  him.  He  is  rather  bidden,  again  and 
again,  to  be  sure  he  is  in  right  relations  to  his 
fellow-men.  The  ^  ^minister"  in  the  introductory 
rubric  is  stoutly  told  to  forbid  the  Sacrament  to 
any  one  *^  known  to  have  done  any  wrong  to  his 
neighbors  by  word  or  deed,"  thereby  offending 
the  congregation;  the  same  order  is  to  be  used 
with  those  betwixt  whom  he  perceives  malice  and 
hatred  to  reign.  The  good  old  custom  has  lapsed 
in  the  modern  Church,  and  suggestions  are  not 
lacking  that  its  revival  might  make  for  reality 
and  social  health.  But  perhaps  it  is  wise  to  be 
content  with  the  later  admonition  to  those  who 
would  approach  the  Altar,  that  they  ' '  amend  their 
lives,  and  be  in  perfect  charity  with  all  men'' ;.  and 


250  Social  Teachings 

again  that  they  be  ^^in  love  and  charity  with  their 
neighbors,  and  intend  to  lead  a  new  life'':  a 
searching  command,  surely,  if  applied,  for  in- 
stance, to  the  class  struggle. 

At  all  events,  one  of  the  most  striking  and 
characteristic  liturgical  achievements  of  the 
Eeformation  was  the  insertion  of  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments, interweaving  them  with  the  old  Kyrie 
Eleison,  at  the  outset  of  the  Communion  OflSce. 
The  practice  obtains  today  of  substituting  the 
positive  beauty  of  Our  Lord's  summary  of  the 
Law, — in  which  all  social  duty  is  implicit, — for 
the  harsh  and  negative  Hebrew  form;  but  it  is 
certainly  well  that  the  Law,  in  one  form  or  an- 
other, should  sturdily  guard  the  entrance  to  the 
most  mystical  of  rites.  And  perhaps  it  would  do 
us  no  harm,  as  in  penitence  and  shame  we  face 
the  modern  world,  to  repeat  the  Ten  Command- 
ments a  little  oftener.  Murder,  stealing,  impur- 
ity, and  covetousness  are  not  obsolete;  we  might 
profitably  remember  how  long  ago  the  race  gained 
moral  insight  enough  to  disapprove  of  them;  the 
rehearsal  of  the  ancient  prohibitions  is  an  ex- 
cellent prelude  to  the  Heavenly  Feast. 

A  Collect  for  obedience;  the  special  Collects, 
Epistle,  and  Gospel,  which  give  to  the  day  its  dis- 
tinctive color;  the  great  Confession  of  Faith, — 
in  use  in  the  West  in  this  connection  since  the 


The  Eucharist  251 

seventli  century.  Then  come  the  Alms,  an  inter- 
ruption to  the  sentimentalist,  and  probably  a 
rather  perfunctory  form  to  most  people.  Yet 
they  were  part  of  the  Lord's  own  Service  from 
primitive  times.  The  Christian  attitude  toward 
property  is  not  to  be  ignored  as  we  approach  the 
Altar;  and  the  appointed  Sentences  are  saturate 
with  it.  Notice  that  it  is  not  enough,  according 
to  two  of  these  sentences,  ^Ho  do  good,"  or  to  be 
*' ready  to  give,"  we  must  be  also  '^glad  to  dis- 
tribute," a  far  more  radical  precept,  especially 
if  one  looks  up  the  word  distribute  in  the  Greek. 

The  great  Intercession  for  the  Church  Militant 
is  a  safeguard  against  all  private-mindedness  in 
the  quest  of  union  with  God,  Church  and  State 
and  all  God's  people.  The  suffering,  the  sick  and 
the  perplexed  and  the  faithful  departed, — these 
are  present  in  our  hearts  as  we  draw  near  to  take 
the  Body  of  the  Lord.  Confession,  absolution, 
and  the  preparation  is  complete.  It  has  carried 
with  it  severe  reminders  of  social  duty ;  and  now 
the  faithful  are  ready  to  hear  the  strengthening 
Words,  to  lift  up  their  hearts  and  to  sing  their 
Sanctus  with  all  the  company  of  Heaven. 

From  this  point,  it  is  no  longer  the  time  for 
consciousness  of  social  duty.  *' Solus  cum  Solo," 
man  enters  the  Sanctuary  where  surrender  and 
aspiration  meet,  and  where  satisfaction  awaits  the 


252  Social  Teachings 

immemorial  hunger  of  the  soul.  Yet  no  sooner 
has  he  returned  from  the  Altar  than  the  old 
thought  is  renewed.  The  great  corporate  prayer 
of  Christ  Himself  for  the  Coming  of  the  Kingdom 
and  the  Doing  of  the  Will  on  earth  is  the  first  that 
may  be  uttered  by  lips  which  have  received  the 
Holy  Mysteries ;  part  of  the  Eucharistic  joy  is  the 
knowledge  that  we  are  very  members  incorporate 
in  that  Mystical  Body  which  is  the  blessed  com- 
pany of  all  faithful  people ;  and  the  Gloria  in  Ex- 
celsis  recalls  the  Peace  to  men  of  good  will  to 
which  the  heart  forever  clings. 

Thus  all  the  careful  worship  through  which  the 
Church  leads  her  children  to  the  Altar,  all  the 
emotion  into  which,  cleansed  and  fed,  they  return, 
is  saturate  with  social  earnestness.  But  the  Sac- 
rament is  greater  than  the  worship  which  en- 
shrines it;  and  meditation  on  the  Holy  Mystery 
Itself  gives  best  guidance  to  our  minds. 

The  simple  and  outstanding  fact  is  plain;  this 
is  the  Sacrament  of  Unity,  this  is  the  Feast  of 
Brotherhood,  this  is  the  sure  communion  no  less 
of  man  with  man  than  of  man  with  God.  It  is  to 
the  Christian  the  earnest  and  the  pledge  of  that 
Holy  Fellowship  and  Perpetual  Feast  in  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven  where  all  separateness  shall  be 
done  away.    Alas,  that  down  through  history  the 


The  Eucharist  253 

Sacrament  of  Unity  has  so  often  been  a  Sacra- 
ment of  division;  alas  that  still  we  rear  our 
separate  Altars,  and  defy  brotherhood  where  we 
should  most  and  first  assert  it.  None  the  less, 
despite  the  perplexities  and  blunders  of  Christ's 
stupid  though  loving  folk,  the  great  Eite  stands 
forever  as  witness  to  the  abiding  truth  of  fellow- 
ship. The  Holiest  Gift  is  not  given  to  us  in  soli- 
tude; Christian  wisdom  forbids  a  solitary  ap- 
proach to  the  Altar.  Only  at  the  common  meal, 
where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together,  do  we 
touch  Infinity  most  intimately,  and  find  ourselves 
most  fully  one  with  Creative  Love. 

The  Eucharist,  rightly  understood,  destroys  all 
barriers.  We  being  many,  are  One  Breads  One 
Body.  ^'As  the  elements  of  the  Holy  Bread, 
scattered  in  the  mountains,  were  brought  together 
into  a  single  whole,  may  Thy  sanctified  Church  be 
gathered  together  from  the  four  winds  of  Heaven, 
from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  out  of  every  nation 
and  country  and  city  and  village  and  house,  into 
the  kingdom  which  Thou  hast  prepared  for  it.'' 
This  ancient  prayer  of  the  second  or  third  cen- 
tury shows  Christianity  more  potent  than  the  Pax 
Eomana  to  inspire  ideals  of  unity  in  a  divided 
world.  Here,  in  Love's  home,  class,  rank,  race, 
nation,  vanish ;  opinions  cease  to  separate  as  men 
unite  in  the  Act  prescribed  by  the  common  Lord. 


254  Social  Teachings 

Theories  about  the  Sacrament  may  vex  the  mind 
of  Christendom ;  but  no  Christian  carries  them  to 
the  Altar.  The  sacramental  life,  as  it  quickens  at 
the  touch  of  faith,  is  the  same  in  every  heart.  The 
Eucharist  is  the  final  rebuke  to  the  instinct  for 
spiritual  aristocracy.  Saint,  ascetic,  administra- 
tor, theologian,  priest,  has  no  higher  privilege 
than  the  least  of  repentant  sinners.  No  esoteric 
grace,  conditioned  on  wisdom  or  even  on  spiritual 
attainment,  awaits  the  Christian  initiate.  All  is 
open  to  the  child  just  confirmed,  to  the  most  igno- 
rant of  loving  hearts ;  at  the  first  cry  of  faith,  the 
Gift  is  ready.  It  unites  us  with  the  whole  Church 
militant  here  below;  and  no  less,  with  the  Church 
expectant  and  triumphant. 

**  Angels  and  living  saints  and  dead 
But  one  communion  make,'^ 

in  the  democracy  of  the  Altar. 

The  associations  of  the  Feast  are  the  most 
homely  and  most  universal,  and  the  social  mes- 
sage lies  on  the  surface,  even  for  those  to  whom 
the  Communion  means  a  memorial  service  and 
nothing  more.  "What  is  it  we  remember?  A  group 
of  friends  gathered  around  a  table,  eating  ordi- 
nary food;  men  troubled,  perplexed,  but  quieted 
by  the  loving  talk  of  their  Leader,  and  drawn  by 


The  Eucharist  255 

the  power  of  His  words  into  deep  assurance  of 
their  oneness  with  Him  and  with  God.  The 
historic  situation  is  implicit  in  our  memlory  of  that 
Paschal  meal.  The  solemn  commemoration  of  the 
deliverance  of  a  nation  from  bondage ;  the  anxious 
consciousness  of  danger  and  defeat  shared  by  all 
members  of  the  little  group,  aware  even  while 
they  scrupulously  observe  the  highest  traditions 
of  their  race,  that  they  are  outlawed  in  the  opinion 
of  their  national  authorities.  Their  feeling 
toward  their  Master  and  toward  one  another  has 
the  intensity  which  always  obtains  among  people 
standing  against  a  hostile  world  for  an  unpop- 
ular cause,  and,  as  usually  happens  in  such 
groups,  the  doubter  is  present,  and  the  traitor. 
Nevertheless,  above  their  haunting  fears,  their 
petty  rivalries  and  suspicions,  penetrating  their 
stupidity  and  their  imperfect  apprehension  of  the 
very  ideal  which  unites  them,  sounds  the  Voice  of 
Love.  It  bids  them  remember  Him  in  the  daily 
breaking  of  their  bread,  and  the  very  simplicity 
of  the  command  is  quiet  proof  that  the  ideal  for 
which  Love  faces  death  shall  never  perish  in 
their  hearts. 

The  Master  leaves  His  faithful  no  illusion  as 
to  what  awaits  them.  The  world  is  going  to  hate 
them  as  it  is  hating  Him,  and  they  are  not  to  be 
surprised  at  the  fact.    But  joy  such  as  the  world 


256  Social  Teachings 

does  not  know,  joy  which  no  man  can  take  from 
them,  will  also  be  their  portion:  the  supreme  joy 
of  knowing  themselves  branches  of  the  fruit-bear- 
ing Vine.    Here  is  the  Eucharist  indeed. 

Christian  experience  rejoices  in  these  holy  mem- 
ories; but  it  has  not  stopped  with  them.  Inev- 
itably and  insensibly  it  has  penetrated  deeper  into 
the  essential  meaning  of  the  rite  which  it  observes 
in  remembrance  of  its  Lord.  The  Eucharist  is 
more  than  a  memorial,  it  is  a  sacrament :  the  most 
abiding  contacts  of  man  with  eternity  are  cen- 
tred here  as  in  their  home.  The  Gift  of  Christ 
to  his  own  is  perpetual  reality,  and  past,  present 
and  future  meet  at  the  Altar  in  an  eternal  Now. 

It  was  like  Jesus  to  make  the  commonest  of 
food,  prepared  by  man  from  the  dawn  of  history, 
the  instrument  of  the  greatest  mystery.  The 
Eucharistic  Feast  beautifully  sanctifies  the  union 
of  the  life  of  Nature  with  human  labor.  Wild 
roots  and  berries  are  not  the  chosen  means  of  com- 
municating Divine  Life,  but  rather  the  wheat  and 
the  grape  which  men  have  grown.  So  the  final 
benediction  descends  on  our  dressing  and  keeping 
the  garden  of  the  world,  and  in  reward  of  our 
tender  care,  the  fruits  of  the  earth  become  the 
Food  of  Immortality.  Here  is  the  consummation 
of  all  toil,  the  healthful,  sacramental  consecra- 


The  Eucharist  257 

tion  whereby  the  temporal  is  linked  with  the 
eternal,  and  physical  life  with  life  beyond  the 
cognizance  of  sense.  Beyond  and  around  every 
Altar,  the  imaginative  eye  sees  fields  all  over  the 
earth  billowing  with  grain,  vineyards  covering  the 
hills ;  and  it  sees  that  the  myriad  men  who  bend 
to  the  work  whereby  the  world  is  fed  are  all  un- 
consciously nourishing  the  soul  as  well  as  the  body 
of  the  race  in  a  sacramental  harmony. 

There  is  something  mysterious  in  the  emotion 
which  seizes  any  sensitive  person  in  presence  of 
the  older  types  of  agricultural  labor.  Sowing, 
reaping,  threshing,  ploughing, — the  sight  of  them 
touches  the  springs  of  tears ;  no  other  call  is  deep 
as  theirs  in  the  normal  life  of  man.  Is  this  be- 
cause all  labor  is  implicit  in  the  fundamental  labor 
of  tilling  the  earth?  Or  is  the  feeling  rooted  in 
some  intuition  of  a  mystic  sanctity  inherent  in 
the  feeding  of  men?  In  the  Eucharist,  such 
sanctity  receives  its  ultimate  seal,  ^^Give  us  this 
day  our  daily,  our  superstantial  bread'':  the  de- 
vout heart  has  always  gathered  double  meaning 
into  the  petition.  It  desires  to  unite  physical 
nourishment  with  the  nourishment  which  sustains 
the  body  and  the  soul  alike  unto  everlasting  life. 

But  the  harmony  is  broken.  The  wheat  is 
ground,  the  grapes  are  crushed.  They  have 
yielded  up  their  natural  life'  that  they  may  min- 


258  Social  Teachings 

ister  to  human  need,  and  until  they  have  thus  suf- 
fered they  can  not  be  transformed  into  the  Body 
of  the  Lord,  given  for  our  salvation.  This  holy 
Sacrament  is  a  continued  Incarnation,  ever  re- 
vealing the  Word  made  Flesh;  it  is  also  the 
eternal  sacrifice,  wherein  Love  dies  that  we  may 
live.  The  sternest  spiritual  law  finds  here  its 
best,  most  solemn  and  complete  expression;  man 
feeds  upon  his  God. 

Here  we  approach  an  aspect  of  the  Eucharist 
seldom  touched  on  except  by  the  enemies  of  a 
sacramental  system.  But  it  is  an  aspect  which 
can  not  rightly  be  ignored,  and  it  is  charged  with 
social  significance.  The  ancient  Office,  so  dear 
to  us  from  the  associations  of  long  Christian  cen- 
turies, leads  the  faithful  back  to  the  simple  glory 
of  the  scene  in  the  Upper  Chamber,  where  friends 
conscious  of  impending  disaster  entered  into  a 
new  pact  of  unconquerable  loyalty  and  love.  But 
in  certain  suggestions,  the  rite  antedates  Chris- 
tianity altogether.  As  far  back  as  we  can  gaze, 
man  has  known  the  strange  instinct  of  sacrifice; 
and  the  human  beings  sometimes  offered  in  the 
twilight  of  his  early  history  may  have  been  rep- 
resentatives or  substitutes  for  a  divinity.  Crude 
beliefs  and  shocking  rituals  bequeath  their  echoes 
to  the  exalted  worship  of  the  Christian  mystery. 

Most  plain  Christians  are  probably  ignorant  of 


The  Eucharist  259 

these  associations  or  turn  their  minds  away.  But 
they  do  ill;  for  it  is  the  supreme  triumph  of  our 
holy  faith  to  abandon  nothing  which  has  been 
sacred  to  man,  to  justify  and  include  every  intu- 
ition, every  aspiration,  by  which  he  has  sought 
to  claim  his  heritage  in  the  supernatural  world. 
A  wise  instinct  made  Gregory  the  Great  bid  the 
anxious  Augustine  not  to  rebuke  but  to  assimilate 
the  heathen  practises  dear  to  the  old  inhabitants 
of  England;  in  the  same  way,  a  wise  instinct  re- 
joices today  in  the  discoveries,  more  and  more 
numerous,  often  flaunted  in  our  face  by  the  oppo- 
nents of  Christianity,  of  the  extent  to  which  our 
religion  has  absorbed  Pagan  rites  and  primitive 
superstitions.  All  these  dim,  strange  outreach- 
ings  of  the  spirit  to  the  Eternal,  these  embryonic 
efforts  to  penetrate  the  awful  mystery  of  exist- 
ence, had  in  them  a  spark  of  vital  fire,  a  germ  of 
the  growing  soul :  all  find  in  Christianity  the  ful- 
filment of  their  groping  need : — 

^' Types  and  shadows  have  their  ending, 
For  the  newer  rite  is  here,"  .  •  . 

The  noble  liturgical  words  of  the  Eucharistic 
hymn  apply,  not  only  to  the  Jewish  sacrifices 
which  were  the  direct  precursors  of  the  Christian 
Sacrament,  but  also  to  many  other  strange  faiths 


26o  Social  Teachings 

and  customs  which  seem  at  first  a  dark  and  obso- 
lete chapter  in  the  soul's  long  story. 

By  how  many  myriads  of  ancient  men  has  the 
earth  been  conceived  as  the  Body  of  the  Nourish- 
ing God !  Still,  in  Italy,  grains  grown  in  darkness 
through  Lent  are  placed,  during  the  holy  days 
when  the  Passion  is  commemorated,  around  the 
image  of  the  dead  Christ ;  as  in  Egypt,  how  many 
centuries  ago,  wheat  ears  were  sculptured,  spring- 
ing from  the  body  of  Osiris.  Awful  and  repellant 
rites,  in  which  the  worshipper  drank  the  blood  of 
the  victim  that  it  might  instil  into  his  body  an  im- 
mortal power,  were  current  through  the  Roman 
Empire  when  Christianity  was  young,  and  in  these 
rites  our  own  faith  is  shadowed.  These  ancient 
cults,  these  wild  imaginings,  all  held  to  something 
that  we  cannot  abandon  today ;  they  centred  in  the 
recognition  that  life  must  be  given  for  the  sup- 
port of  life :  life  both  above  us  and  beneath  us  in 
the  scale  of  being;  wheat  and  grape,  becoming  by 
transmutation  the  Body  and  Blood  of  the  sacri- 
ficed God.  The  Eucharist  accepts  this  recogni- 
tion to  the  full.  It  preserves  the  past  of  humanity 
in  all  the  pathos  of  its  aspiration;  it  is  the  vic- 
torious transfiguration  of  what  seems  darkest  and 
wildest  in  primitive  religion,  of  what  is  felt  to  be 
most  humiliating  in  practical  experience,  into  the 
ultimate  expression  of  the  law  of  sacrificial  love. 


The  Eucharist  261 

Willingness  to  accept  the  death  of  God  offered 
that  we  may  live,  to  take  the  ever-renewed  sacri- 
fice into  that  ever-changing  being  which  can  other- 
wise not  live  at  all,  is  the  ultimate  act  of  faith.  It 
is  the  seal  on  the  awful  mystery  of  interdepend- 
ence, the  lie  forever  to  all  attempt  to  live  a  self- 
sufficing  life.  Existence  itself  is  a  continual  Com- 
munion, in  which  man  feeds  upon  the  universal 
God. 

How  can  this  tragic  necessity  be  turned  into  a 
Eucharist?  Only  by  man's  becoming  one  with  his 
God,  and  in  that  oneness  offering  himself  for  the 
life  of  the  world.  In  the  deep  mystery  of  union 
with  the  Passion  is  the  redemption  of  the  lowest 
necessity  of  our  being,  and  its  transformation  into 
the  highest  glory.  How  gladly,  how  solemnly, 
must  he  who  nourishes  himself  by  the  perpetual 
dying  of  God  offer  himself,  his  soul  and  body,  to 
be  a  reasonable  holy  and  living  sacrifice,  whereby 
humanity  shall  be  fed!  We  kneel  at  the  Altar, 
less  to  receive  a  gift  than  to  be  united  with  the 
Giver,  and  the  surrender  which  is  the  law  of 
Christian  life  finds  here  its  abiding  source  of 
strength.  Dying  to  live,  we  attain  our  true  being : 
**  Crushed  and  tormented  in  the  mills  of  God, 
And  offered  at  life's  hands,  a  living  Eucharist.'*  ^ 

*  Evelyn  Underhill,  Corpus  Christi. 


262  Social  Teachings 

Offered  forever,   as   we  are   forever   sustained. 

Every  humblest  Christian  tests  this  paradox 
every  day.  Calvary  precedes  Easter,  and  Christ's 
folk  must  give  themselves  with  their  Master  if 
they  would  receive  His  salvation.  The  paradox 
becomes  a  platitude  when  written  down ;  but  it  is 
daily  translated,  thank  God,  into  lovely  realities 
of  character.  It  strikes  the  basic  note  which  dis- 
tinguishes the  Christian  ideal  from  every  other. 
The  strict  disciplines,  the  noble  self-control,  de- 
manded by  the  Greeks,  for  instance,  were  to  the 
end  of  perfecting  the  individual;  the  Christian 
pursues  these  virtues  with  the  salvation  of  others 
rather  than  his  personal  perfection,  as  his  goal. 
His  being  is  suffused  with  a  consciousness  of  the 
Whole  life,  hum'an  and  divine,  which  he  shares 
through  the  ceaseless  activity  of  giving  and  re- 
ceiving. He  lives,  silently,  in  an  order  in  which 
the  laws  of  self-seeking  are  superseded  by  the 
law  of  the  Broken  Body  and  the  Shed  Blood,.  It 
is  a  law  which  can  only  be  obeyed  by  union  with 
the  sacrifice  of  God. 

And  when  this  life  is  really  lived,  human  nature 
is  generally  acknowledged,  even  by  people  of  hos- 
tile sympathies,  to  reach  its  highest  point.  Let 
no  one  dare  to  talk  as  if  Christianity  were  a  fail- 
ure ;  he  shall  be  bidden  lift  his  eyes  to  the  count- 
less, mainly  uncanonized,  saints,  who  shine  like 


The  Eucharist  263 

stars  in  the  all-embracing  sky.  Christianity  has 
been  a  triumphant  success  because  the  Christian 
type  of  personality  is  the  fairest  achievement  of 
the  ages.  In  the  full  Christian  life,  the  truths  of 
atonement  and  resurrection  are  raised  from 
passively  recognized  principles  into  experienced 
fact,  and  even  remote  observers  perceive  their 
glory.  Men  and  women  attain  the  most  exquisite 
beauty  of  their  possible  being  when  they  yield 
themselves  to  the  Sacramental  Law. 

Alas !  this  law  of  personal  life  has  never,  since 
the  time  of  Christ,  been  accepted  as  the  law  of 
social  life  also ;  yet  it  is  enshrined  at  the  heart  of 
a  Sacrament  which  is  the  communion  of  the  Whole 
Body  of  the  Lord.  Nations,  classes,  disregard  it 
as  completely  as  if  Christ  had  never  been  born; 
but  it  is  the  only  law  of  their  redemption,  or  even 
of  their  continued  existence.  No  civilization 
founded  on  self-defense  and  self-assertion  can 
ever  endure.  It  can  have  only  a  phantasmal  and 
transitory  life ;  for  it  belongs  to  the  lower  order 
of  decay  and  death,  not  to  the  enduring  Sacra- 
mental order,  where  the  natural  carries  within  it 
the  seed  of  immortality.  There  is  not  one  ethio 
for  individuals,  another  for  the  State.  The  corpo- 
rate and  the  personal  life,  if  they  would  enjoy 
the  same  heritage  of  permanence,  must  follow  the 
same  law;  here  again,  as  so  often  before,  we  find 


264  Social  Teachings 

that  the  Christian  ethic,  which  has  proved  life- 
giving  to  the  individual,  must  be  socialized  if  the 
Will  of  the  Master  is  to  be  fulfilled. 

But  corporate  obedience  may  well  seem  impos- 
sible to  the  natural  man ;  for  thic  is  a  law  above 
Nature.  The  Christian,  more  than  any  one  else 
perhaps,  must  doubt  whether  the  tremendous 
changes  involved  in  the  establishment  of  a  new 
world-order  can  be  wrought  on  the  natural  level. 

Desperate  attempts  on  this  level  are  witnessed 
today,  and  the  good  and  evil  in  them  is  strangely 
confused.  More  than  one  modern  mystic  believes 
that  the  socialist  movement  has  a  suggestion  of 
Antichrist;  and  so  far  as  this  movement  repudi- 
ates religion  and  ignores  God,  it  may  well  terrify 
spiritual  men.  In  their  distrust  they  are  joined 
by  nearly  all  types  of  the  fleshly  mind.  The  hi&- 
torian  shrugs  his  shoulders,  the  psychologist 
shakes  his  head,  the  man  on  the  street  breaks  into 
contemptuous  laughter.  They  know,  all  these,  that 
only  a  minority  ever  responds  to  the  higher  law; 
they  see  how  imperfectly  it  works  even  in  the 
saints;  they  observe  that  we  shall  always  have 
human  nature  to  reckon  with,  and  they  never  fail 
to  reiterate  with  an  air  of  finality  that  you  must 
alter  human  nature  before  a  cooperative  society 
would  work.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the  world, 
they  have  a  strong  case. 


The  Eucharist  265 

But  what  has  the  Christian  to  do  with  the  point 
of  view  of  the  world?  Let  him  be  careful  as  to  the 
allies  he  chooses  in  this  crisis,  lest  he  make  the 
Great  Refusal. 

The  Christian  does  not  dare  to  be  a  pessimist. 
He  is  the  optimist  of  the  ages.  He  knows,  because 
he  sees  it  happen,  that  human  nature  is  being 
altered  day  by  day,  hour  by  hour,  through  the  in- 
flowing power  of  the  Grace  of  God.  The  whole 
teaching  of  his  holy  faith,  as  revealed  throughout 
the  Christian  Year,  is  that  a  supernatural  force, 
limited  only  by  our  unbelief,  is  released  into  this 
mortal  world.  The  Eucharist  preserves  bodies 
as  well  as  souls  unto  everlasting  life ;  it  bears  per- 
petual witness  that  the  economic  and  political  life 
of  earth  is  to  be  the  Sacramental  expression  of 
Immortal  Love.  We  who  accept  the  dying  of  God 
as  the  source  of  our  continued  life,  can  never  de- 
spair when  love  seems  denied  and  destroyed  in  the 
movement  of  the  world-drama.  We  know  full  well 
that  it  dies  to  live,  and  to  draw  those  who  in  igno- 
rance violate  it,  into  unity  with  its  holy  life  and 
its  redemptive  power. 

The  logical  votary  of  a  Sacramental  philosophy 
will  never  reject  the  theories  and  movements 
which  press  toward  a  more  fraternal  world,  on 
the  score  that  such  schemes  are  too  visionary,  and 
transcend  the  possibilities  of  humanity.    Eather, 


266  Social  Teachings 

he  will  hasten  to  put  at  their  service  the  spiritual 
dynamic  which  he  commands.  Christianity  is 
not  the  acceptance  of  a  creed  but  the  entrance 
into  a  life,  and  in  that  sacramental  life  timid 
distrust  of  high  possibilities  has  no  place.  The 
recreation  of  society  in  the  Divine  Likeness  is 
possible,  but  possible  only  in  the  strength  of  the 
regenerate  life,  bom  from  Above.  In  proportion 
as  men  open  their  being  to  that  inflowing  life, 
given  to  them  in  Baptism,  sustained  at  the  Altar, 
they  will  prove  competent  to  sustain  a  social  order 
founded  on  sacrificial  love. 

To  alter  human  nature  is  the  task  explicitly  en- 
trusted to  the  Church  of  Christ.  Unless  in  the 
present  crisis  she  bends  herself  to  this  task  with 
a  wider  vision,  in  a  supreme  Act  of  Faith  in  her 
own  Sacraments,  she  will  crucify  the  Son  of  God 
afresh.  This  is  the  hour  toward  which  she  has 
been  moving  since  her  birth  at  Pentecost.  She  has 
outgrown  asceticism  and  otherworldliness,  with 
their  subtly  atheistic  denial  of  the  Incarnation; 
she  is  ready  to  understand  her  own  ideals  as  never 
before.  The  mighty  forces  at  work  for  the  over- 
throw of  the  aristocratic  order  and  the  establish- 
ment of  social  democracy,  will  either  wreck  or 
save  the  civilized  world.  The  choice  between  these 
alternatives  rests  with  Christians,  and  with  the 
Church  which  feeds  them  with  the  Bread  of  Life. 


The  Eucharist  267 

The  solution  for  which  the  weary  world  has 
waited  long  is  in  the  midst  of  us.  Let  us  not  for- 
get at  this  moment  that  now  are  we  the  sons  of 
God.  In  every  nation  of  the  West  goes  on  the 
stormy  process  of  preparing  a  new  economic  body 
for  the  race  to  use.  It  can  be  the  privilege  of 
Christianity  to  turn  that  process  into  a  Sacrament 
by  infusing  into  it  the  soul  it  needs.  The  Adven- 
ture is  great  and  full  of  hope,  for  the  Christian 
spirit  is  more  pervasive  than  we  think.  It  works 
among  multitudes  who  do  not  consciously  profess 
the  Name  of  Christ,  but  who  live  in  a  civilization 
suffused  for  nigh  two  thousand  years  by  Christian 
ideas.  Among  those  others  who  retain  a  definite 
creed  and  membership  in  some  Christian  commun- 
ion, it  waits,  in  ignorance  and  bewilderment 
often,  but  in  exceeding  great  desire.  It  needs  to 
become  incarnate,  and  the  time  for  this  incarna- 
tion is  at  hand.  Every  Eucharist  brings  to  the 
Christian  radical  the  courage  and  the  strength  he 
needs ;  for  as  he  receives  the  Gift  of  the  Body  and 
the  Blood,  he  knows  that  he  is  made  one  with  the 
Divine  Humanity  which,  lifted  up  in  sacrifice, 
draws  all  men  unto  Him,  and  which  forever  speaks 
out  of  the  eternal  glory  the  revolutionary  and  re- 
creative words,  ** Behold,  I  make  all  things  new.'' 


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